I have always been confused by the virtual power of paper currency. It is a just a piece of paper. Isn’t it? How can it really have any value? Does it have any tangible benefits? Well, we have moulded the world in a way that currency has huge advantages. But how does it really extract that much amount of power? What does it really have to back up with so much strength? The answer to this question is sheer assets. Now what are these assets? Something that has real tangible value associated with it. Back in the olden days of barter trading system, every object had a value associated with it and it was traded by comparative valuation against each other item.
Gold is something that has real value. It truly defines the asset class. In fact, it is the hallmark of an asset. Money derives its real power from gold to a major extent. It is really a rare metal and that’s why it’s so very precious. You can’t make gold on your own. You need a real natural resource to provide gold. Extraction is not easy and it needs great skills, technique and a lot of complicated procedures. That’s the reason it carries so much importance.
Natural resources like gold are completely on nature. So what will happen if one day these natural resources dive towards extinction? You will no longer be able to provide value to your money in the form of gold. This would mean that gold would become priceless. It might not be in the near future but probably in a few centuries gold will follow this path. No supply but a lot of demand will help it scale improbable heights. Your paper currency won’t be able to bear the strength of gold. One day or the other this is going to happen.
So, the next time your wife asks you to buy gold don’t just ignore her. It might happen that you won’t be able to own gold 20 years down the line because it will reach unbelievable heights.
Get gold now and reap the benefits later.
http://expertscolumn.com/users/samprad78
All copyrights reserved by Sameer Devalekar
Saturday, 27 October 2012
Friday, 26 October 2012
Why you need Reward Programs ?
In the 21st century, businesses drive and sustain on their values and long term goals. It's a customer centric world and today the only way you can derive this intrinsic value is by bringing a smile on the Customer's face.
So what does a genuine customer need?
Let's take an extract from our daily lives
Today almost everyone goes to a shopping mall and buys stuff, which they would have bought in a mom and pop store a couple of decades ago at much bigger discounts. People are ready to shell out more than their ancestors. What has brought about this change? It's really the change in the basic lifestyle of the majority population. The concept of a shopping mall where you get a variety of options to choose from attracts the customer towards it.
What more do these stores offer him? They offer him membership reward programs to provide him an added incentive to shop at their stores. User can use it the way he wants: Get added discounts on products, redeem them to buy other products of his choice, get discounted offers on Flights, Restaurants and so many amazing deals to choose from.
Reward Programs in businesses are essentially a means to develop business by enticing the customer and create a long term association with him.
For some people like me, I will buy the same brand of Shirts, Jeans, perfumes, glares whether I buy it from a normal store or a store that offers me a rewards program. So what difference does it make?
It does make a difference. I am perfectly okay shelling out an additional dollar or 2 as a premium on any product if I know that I am getting a rewards program which is giving me an added luxury or a discounted luxury to choose from. It's like an investment, which I can redeem whenever I want to.
Incentive Program offers an end user a clear cut incentive and value for money, which he can spend towards his likings. Gone are the days of Customer satisfaction. In the current times, businesses need to strive for Customer delight and the more you achieve that the more are your chances to succeed in any business.
Market is driven by values. Values are driven by quality and fair price. In today's world, that's not the only thing. Values also need to be attached with a fair share of incentive. In Software industry, employers provide a number of reward programs to their employees and the primary objective is employee retention. These programs help the employer to reward the employees for their contribution in a specific domain and technology. The Employers spread the rewards benefit over a period of time in order maximize the chances of retention.
Historically, reward programs to customers worked as saviours during recession times. The whole objective behind this initiative is to provide benefit to the customer based on the period of association and loyalty. The more you spend the more margins the businesses can derive and they can in turn return a favour to the customer by providing him some reason to smile.
An Incentive Program brings in a well-knitted association of organizations. Businesses need to tie up with several other businesses to make this possible. This brings about a sound amount of profit sharing between organizations and helps to grow the business.
One of my friend's owns a books store in a relatively sparsely populated town. Due to continuous low turnovers every quarter, he was on the verge of shutting his shop. As a last resort, he introduced a membership Incentive program to all his customers. The highlights of this program included rewarding points to members on enrolment. Every purchase of $5 fetched the customer 10 membership reward points. Once the customer earned 100 membership points, he could redeem them either in the form of money or for buying other books. The idea hit the nail spot on. In a few days, the volume of sales in his store grew by over 40% and he started deriving a handsome profit on his investments.
In a nutshell, an incentive program is a highly effective means of improving business opportunities and profit margins if it is strategized and modelled as per the needs of the target customer.
http://expertscolumn.com/users/samprad78
All copyrights reserved by Sameer Devalekar
So what does a genuine customer need?
Let's take an extract from our daily lives
Today almost everyone goes to a shopping mall and buys stuff, which they would have bought in a mom and pop store a couple of decades ago at much bigger discounts. People are ready to shell out more than their ancestors. What has brought about this change? It's really the change in the basic lifestyle of the majority population. The concept of a shopping mall where you get a variety of options to choose from attracts the customer towards it.
What more do these stores offer him? They offer him membership reward programs to provide him an added incentive to shop at their stores. User can use it the way he wants: Get added discounts on products, redeem them to buy other products of his choice, get discounted offers on Flights, Restaurants and so many amazing deals to choose from.
Reward Programs in businesses are essentially a means to develop business by enticing the customer and create a long term association with him.
For some people like me, I will buy the same brand of Shirts, Jeans, perfumes, glares whether I buy it from a normal store or a store that offers me a rewards program. So what difference does it make?
It does make a difference. I am perfectly okay shelling out an additional dollar or 2 as a premium on any product if I know that I am getting a rewards program which is giving me an added luxury or a discounted luxury to choose from. It's like an investment, which I can redeem whenever I want to.
Incentive Program offers an end user a clear cut incentive and value for money, which he can spend towards his likings. Gone are the days of Customer satisfaction. In the current times, businesses need to strive for Customer delight and the more you achieve that the more are your chances to succeed in any business.
Market is driven by values. Values are driven by quality and fair price. In today's world, that's not the only thing. Values also need to be attached with a fair share of incentive. In Software industry, employers provide a number of reward programs to their employees and the primary objective is employee retention. These programs help the employer to reward the employees for their contribution in a specific domain and technology. The Employers spread the rewards benefit over a period of time in order maximize the chances of retention.
Historically, reward programs to customers worked as saviours during recession times. The whole objective behind this initiative is to provide benefit to the customer based on the period of association and loyalty. The more you spend the more margins the businesses can derive and they can in turn return a favour to the customer by providing him some reason to smile.
An Incentive Program brings in a well-knitted association of organizations. Businesses need to tie up with several other businesses to make this possible. This brings about a sound amount of profit sharing between organizations and helps to grow the business.
One of my friend's owns a books store in a relatively sparsely populated town. Due to continuous low turnovers every quarter, he was on the verge of shutting his shop. As a last resort, he introduced a membership Incentive program to all his customers. The highlights of this program included rewarding points to members on enrolment. Every purchase of $5 fetched the customer 10 membership reward points. Once the customer earned 100 membership points, he could redeem them either in the form of money or for buying other books. The idea hit the nail spot on. In a few days, the volume of sales in his store grew by over 40% and he started deriving a handsome profit on his investments.
In a nutshell, an incentive program is a highly effective means of improving business opportunities and profit margins if it is strategized and modelled as per the needs of the target customer.
http://expertscolumn.com/users/samprad78
All copyrights reserved by Sameer Devalekar
Why can't you be a politician?
It’s difficult to understand how something that is really the primary force of any country can be ignored as an education. It is always assumed that politics must be a quality that is in-built in you. I agree to disagree with this interpretation. You can imbibe politics and the right training can make you a sound politician. But it’s important to remember that training alone is not going to make you great politician. You must have an art of developing sound relationships. Captivating your audience is the biggest asset of a politician. The first impression is always the deeds of the politician and for that he also needs to have substantial vocal powers. If he has a unique ability to drive people then he has the right ingredients to make it big. But hold on!! It can’t be just a one-time affair. A politician has to do it on and on and on and make sure that the bond never breaks.
In today’s world, is it possible for a politician to establish that type of rapport without money? Highly improbable!! A politician without money is like a soccer player without a ball and soccer ground. Today, money is something that really drives politics as it drives other streams. But in case of politics you really need money beforehand to influence and dictate terms. You might not be the best orator, you might not be the best crowd puller but if you have money then you can definitely be a politician. Money is something that politicians use as a sword to pull people by their side.
The reason why common man turns his back on politics is precisely due to these qualities. Success is not guaranteed. Money is primary and common man just can’t afford to enter into something that has so many struggles.
So if you want to enter politics just have some courage and a lot of patience. My feeling is that money is not everything and there are still some good people around.
http://expertscolumn.com/users/samprad78
All copyrights reserved by Sameer Devalekar
In today’s world, is it possible for a politician to establish that type of rapport without money? Highly improbable!! A politician without money is like a soccer player without a ball and soccer ground. Today, money is something that really drives politics as it drives other streams. But in case of politics you really need money beforehand to influence and dictate terms. You might not be the best orator, you might not be the best crowd puller but if you have money then you can definitely be a politician. Money is something that politicians use as a sword to pull people by their side.
The reason why common man turns his back on politics is precisely due to these qualities. Success is not guaranteed. Money is primary and common man just can’t afford to enter into something that has so many struggles.
So if you want to enter politics just have some courage and a lot of patience. My feeling is that money is not everything and there are still some good people around.
http://expertscolumn.com/users/samprad78
All copyrights reserved by Sameer Devalekar
Do you really need outsourcing?
The difference in various economies brings about the very need for outsourcing. The most powerful economies in the world need to get quality work done at the most economical rates. This very need drives the concept of outsourcing. There is a vast difference in the income levels of people across the world. The primary reason for this is the difference in the standard of living. Prosperous economies have higher income brackets. This typically means that the cost of operating a business in a developed economy is quite high because the labour charges are more.
So what do businesses need? They really need cheap yet skilled labour. Countries like China and India provide incredible quality of cheap labour. Let’s take the simple example of software industry. If American or European companies really needed to take advantage of the revenue difference then they need to outsource their work. An entry-level software engineer knowing a web-based technology like Java would demand anywhere between $48k and $60k in US. If the company outsources its operations to India then a similar level professional would charge between $6000 and $8000. Now that’s a wide gap. The company might hire 7 more people in India at the cost of one person in US.This is the fundamental of outsourcing. Although this restricts countrymen from getting jobs it helps businesses because they are able to maintain higher margins and in turn grow at a faster rate.
The cons of outsourcing lie in its pros. Outsourcing increases the dependency of the developed economy on the developing economies. Now let’s say that a lot of work gets outsourced to China. This means that now people in China have good amount of jobs. At the same time people in US are suffering from job loses. This directly impacts the economy of US. On the other hand, Chinese economy grows but only till a certain point. For it to grow further, it would really need the US economy to prosper because that would increase the number of businesses in US.
Hence, there has to be a proper harmony of outsourcing and home jobs to ensure growth of businesses and economies.
http://expertscolumn.com/users/samprad78
All copyrights reserved by Sameer Devalekar
So what do businesses need? They really need cheap yet skilled labour. Countries like China and India provide incredible quality of cheap labour. Let’s take the simple example of software industry. If American or European companies really needed to take advantage of the revenue difference then they need to outsource their work. An entry-level software engineer knowing a web-based technology like Java would demand anywhere between $48k and $60k in US. If the company outsources its operations to India then a similar level professional would charge between $6000 and $8000. Now that’s a wide gap. The company might hire 7 more people in India at the cost of one person in US.This is the fundamental of outsourcing. Although this restricts countrymen from getting jobs it helps businesses because they are able to maintain higher margins and in turn grow at a faster rate.
The cons of outsourcing lie in its pros. Outsourcing increases the dependency of the developed economy on the developing economies. Now let’s say that a lot of work gets outsourced to China. This means that now people in China have good amount of jobs. At the same time people in US are suffering from job loses. This directly impacts the economy of US. On the other hand, Chinese economy grows but only till a certain point. For it to grow further, it would really need the US economy to prosper because that would increase the number of businesses in US.
Hence, there has to be a proper harmony of outsourcing and home jobs to ensure growth of businesses and economies.
http://expertscolumn.com/users/samprad78
All copyrights reserved by Sameer Devalekar
Why to use Affiliate marketing ?
Affiliate marketing is another powerful marketing gimmick. The problem with regular marketing strategies is that you really need to burn yourself all day to reach your audience. And even that might not be sufficient. Your product can be just about anything. What you really need to do is to sell it and not only recover your basic costs but also make handsome profits. If you market it all by yourself then definitely you will have bigger profit margin per unit. But you won’t be able to turn up huge volumes. Affiliate marketing helps you increase your sales revenue by taking help of qualified and talented marketers in your space. They help in selling your product by using different channels and strategies.
Affiliate marketers need to have strong skills for marketing your product. They need to establish strong bonds. In present era, they use their blogs to attract different sets of audience. They can also use various forums to spread awareness among people and probably entice some prospects into buying your product. The earnings of the affiliates are based on the sales that they are able to generate.
Let’s say you have a product for reducing fat and it has a market price of $300. The original production cost of each piece is $100. Now the problem that you have is you are quite new and don’t know how to explore different markets. What you will typically do is get in touch with different affiliate marketing partners to sell your product. Now these partners can be located across the globe. They will influence their contacts to sell your product. Now imagine one of the affiliates sells 20 pieces of your product. This means he generated revenue of $6000. If you calculate your profit margin then it comes to around $4000. That’s quite a handsome amount. You would definitely love to share a part of this profit with the affiliate. The rates are generally fixed in such a way that affiliates have a fair share of the profit. In this case, you might as well share $100 per piece which means the affiliate earns $2000 as his income. Imagine 100 affiliates working for you in this mode. You don’t need pay the affiliates if they don’t make any sales. This helps to grow your business immensely and also provides the affiliates an opportunity to earn more money.
It’s very important to choose your affiliates who have good contacts and strong means of marketing. Strong affiliate marketing helps you reach global audience swiftly.
http://expertscolumn.com/users/samprad78
All copyrights reserved by Sameer Devalekar
Affiliate marketers need to have strong skills for marketing your product. They need to establish strong bonds. In present era, they use their blogs to attract different sets of audience. They can also use various forums to spread awareness among people and probably entice some prospects into buying your product. The earnings of the affiliates are based on the sales that they are able to generate.
Let’s say you have a product for reducing fat and it has a market price of $300. The original production cost of each piece is $100. Now the problem that you have is you are quite new and don’t know how to explore different markets. What you will typically do is get in touch with different affiliate marketing partners to sell your product. Now these partners can be located across the globe. They will influence their contacts to sell your product. Now imagine one of the affiliates sells 20 pieces of your product. This means he generated revenue of $6000. If you calculate your profit margin then it comes to around $4000. That’s quite a handsome amount. You would definitely love to share a part of this profit with the affiliate. The rates are generally fixed in such a way that affiliates have a fair share of the profit. In this case, you might as well share $100 per piece which means the affiliate earns $2000 as his income. Imagine 100 affiliates working for you in this mode. You don’t need pay the affiliates if they don’t make any sales. This helps to grow your business immensely and also provides the affiliates an opportunity to earn more money.
It’s very important to choose your affiliates who have good contacts and strong means of marketing. Strong affiliate marketing helps you reach global audience swiftly.
http://expertscolumn.com/users/samprad78
All copyrights reserved by Sameer Devalekar
Video marketing - A classy marketing strategy
I have always felt that video marketing is a much powerful marketing medium on the web. The problem that it suffered in the early part of the last decade was the internet speed and the browser compatibility. YouTube has been an unbelievable revolution in the field of video marketing. Today, if a global business needs to market their products then the ideal strategy is to do video marketing over the web.
In order to make it more impactful businesses need to launch a video campaign. Not all video campaigns are successful. The primary objective of such a mission is to create really great quality videos. You need to tune yourself to the demands of your consumer. The most important quality of a top-notch video is its content. The way you describe in web article is different than in a video. It’s a different art all-together and requires people of different skillsets.
So apart from content what does your video need to contain?
Accurate sequencing of short videos is a mandatory requirement for creating an audience. You just can’t get away with poor audio and video. Your videos must be supported by multiple types of browsers and the rendering of your video must be really quick. It is very important to create lightweight videos so that people can see them with lesser internet speeds. The audio quality must be rich and people who lend their voice must be professionals.
The problem with video marketing is that you need to have great skills for creating such videos. Also you really need good video cameras and tools for editing. You also need more space to store your videos. Video marketing is not suitable for all types of internet marketing. You would rather prefer simple article marketing to publicise your product in some cases. But if you really need visual representation with dynamic effects to touch your viewers then video marketing is an excellent alternative.
Youtube has opened the doors for video marketing. Today, you can just upload your videos with proper keywords and tagging. Search engines give huge weightage to video marketing. So carefully create your high quality videos taking your viewer point of view into consideration.
http://expertscolumn.com/users/samprad78
All copyrights reserved by Sameer Devalekar
In order to make it more impactful businesses need to launch a video campaign. Not all video campaigns are successful. The primary objective of such a mission is to create really great quality videos. You need to tune yourself to the demands of your consumer. The most important quality of a top-notch video is its content. The way you describe in web article is different than in a video. It’s a different art all-together and requires people of different skillsets.
So apart from content what does your video need to contain?
Accurate sequencing of short videos is a mandatory requirement for creating an audience. You just can’t get away with poor audio and video. Your videos must be supported by multiple types of browsers and the rendering of your video must be really quick. It is very important to create lightweight videos so that people can see them with lesser internet speeds. The audio quality must be rich and people who lend their voice must be professionals.
The problem with video marketing is that you need to have great skills for creating such videos. Also you really need good video cameras and tools for editing. You also need more space to store your videos. Video marketing is not suitable for all types of internet marketing. You would rather prefer simple article marketing to publicise your product in some cases. But if you really need visual representation with dynamic effects to touch your viewers then video marketing is an excellent alternative.
Youtube has opened the doors for video marketing. Today, you can just upload your videos with proper keywords and tagging. Search engines give huge weightage to video marketing. So carefully create your high quality videos taking your viewer point of view into consideration.
http://expertscolumn.com/users/samprad78
All copyrights reserved by Sameer Devalekar
Sunday, 7 October 2012
Success is not Money
The world has transformed amazingly in past few decades. Today, money is considered as the most essential part of our lives. People are ready to commit crimes for material gains. But is money everything? Every person has a different opinion but the most common derivation of each view is ‘Yes money is everything’. Realistically speaking, our lives span not more that 75-80 years. Everything that we do today is mostly for the sake of having a sound bank balance, helping our retirement and enjoying our lives.
I disagree with the fact. Money is really not everything. Unless your money is able to give pleasure to thousands of poor and needy people, it doesn’t really carry any value. This age is such that every person things about himself. His money is restricted to himself and his family. There are very few people who think beyond serving their families but those are scarce. We really have more duties for our country, for our society, for our people. Don’t we?
Does spending money lavishly for enjoying a Europe trip make you happy? It does for most but really think about people around you who are not able to enjoy one quality meal in a day. Think about those children who don’t have anyone to care for them. Think about those needy who spend their entire lives on the road trying to find money to eat one Macdonald’s burger. Aren’t these people really eligible for some pleasure in their lives? If you really want to derive happiness in your life then you need to do something for them.
Get rid of your excess money because it’s not going to help you after you are no more. The pleasure of helping the needy is undying. Don’t measure your success by the total value of money you have. Measure it by the number of smiles you bring on the face of people who really need it. That happiness is eternal. The moment you understand that you will be successful in your life.
http://expertscolumn.com/users/samprad78
All copyrights reserved by Sameer Devalekar
http://expertscolumn.com/users/samprad78
All copyrights reserved by Sameer Devalekar
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