Sales training is something that you need. Opening the classified ads for jobs will tell you just how many positions there are in the sales world. Experienced sales individuals can make quite a bit of money. But, how can you get the training that you need to be in those ranks? Nothing is more frustrating than having an opportunity to get experience but being told that you need experience to get it. To help this, you can invest in getting sales training.

The Benefits

Sales training is beneficial. Depending on your sales field, you can find that having the knowledge you need behind the sale is what is going to drive you to the sales goals you have. Sales training truly does prepare you for every possible reaction a customer may have. It allows you to be prepared so that the first time you step out onto the sales floor, you are doing well.

Sales training can also help you to get that job. Positions that are open look favorably on individuals who have been trained. Many sales positions are available to individuals with less experience with sales training. This is a definite plus on the resume.

Getting The Sales Training

Getting the sales training that you need is not hard. There are excellent opportunities for you in just about every media. Even online sales training courses are available to help you reach the next level in your career. If you are not sure that there is something right out there for you, just take a look at community colleges. In fact, some of the businesses that need you will even provide sales training to you.

All in all, it takes a few weeks of solid learning to be ready to get out there and achieve your goals. Whether your goal is to get experience in sales to get an even bigger career in place or to simply to do well in the job that you have now, sales training can help you go from good to excellent.

Approaching the point of a mature business brings decisions of policy that are best not left to chance. Various factors are involved in deciding how much stock to hold. Along with a gut feel these should lead to a policy decision so that the purchase of inventory for an online company doesn't end up like the tail wagging the dog, overshadowing the profit business model. We will take the example of retailing chess sets and other chess products in analysing the factors in coming to the right decision.

The Range
If a large range of chess products are held, such as with Chess Baron in the US, UK and France, how much of each line should be held? Clearly if an eCommerce
company such as this had 20 different lines, the solution is simple, and the ratio of stock value to total retail sales looks pleasing to any bank manager, perhaps around 10%. In the above example, the retailer runs with a fairly large inventory compared to many in the industry, almost 200 lines in total.
To hold even ten of each line means a stock total of 2000 units, which with a purchase price of $50 on average, means that the cost of stock is very significant. With a typical turnover of this kind of store perhaps reaching over $120K, the ratio of stock value to retail sales approaches 100%. The inventory also represents an asset for the company, and so the asset will be taxed as if cash - almost definitely meaning a loss or break even for the first two years as the stock is ramped up - unless something can be done to reduce the inventory level, which looks mandatory at this ratio level. Stores such as ChessBaron hold somewhere in the region of $60K in stock, but giants of the industry such as WholesaleChess would hold an inventory value of $200K. The largest chess retailer - ChessUSA also has a store in New York and holds a minimum of $300K in stock at any one time.

Where it comes from

If the chess goods come from a domestic source, the stock holding can be reduced whilst keeping in touch with stock levels at the supplier. Buying from wholesalers who have gone through the pain of buying from China or India, etc., suggests that the higher price may be worthwhile in some cases. When this is not available, the model of purchasing from less developed countries means that stock cannot follow any slick JIT model, nor bought from the suppliers as orders arrive, except in high unit price chess sets which are often built to order. This clearly influences the stock level decision - purchasing chess sets from India just isn't as fast or flexible as buying from a domestic wholesaler.

Intelligent Stocking

Clearly some items sell better than others. With our example, having a wide range is part of the store's marketing strategy. ChessBaron holds so mnay lines that generally anyone that wants to buy chess sets can buy from them, they'll find something that is appropriate. Holding just a few of the slower selling chess sets and marking them out of stock when sold instead of rushing to get them in to the order about to ship from India (for example) means that the stock level is better controlled. The converse obviously applies to the faster selling lines. Some lines ARE purchased from domestic sources, - these could be drop shipped instead of held as stock if that facility exists. Smaller margin, true, but no cash tied up in expensive stock. Making sure the manufacturer follows through with replacements for faulty chess pieces, which would otherwise render the entire chess set useless will reduce the need for ordering some sets, whilst simultaneously making the manufacturer feel the pain of blemishes and lax quality control.

Comfort Level

When the business starts, there is some need for juggling stock to fill orders as replacements or free upgrades, or just suggested alternatives. There is little cash and orders for chess sets from India are inflexible and slow. This means constantly being on the phone to the customer - 'Sorry sir, we've run
out of the Carved Napolean Chess set (well, we only had one, and it was sold three weeks ago), but can I recommend the Chamfered base staunton chess set, which you could have for the same price...?'- sorting out endless problems because of stock levels that are too low. Having the chess sets in stock, being able to lift one of twenty off the shelf and being able to fill the order easily means time allowed for further selling or just sanity of life. So some inventory level is required when it comes to running an active business, even if slick consultants may urge a minimal stock level ordering small shipments from India with double wrapping and double stress.

Balancing these factors leads to the conclusion that significant chess stock is required, whilst minimising inventory levels by intelligent stocking and supplier orders. It's the nature of the game - there is a good markup in the retailing of chess sets, but the downside is the expense of the stock held and the level of inventory required.

Linknet Internet News Digest - December 22, 2005 - According to a 1992, U.S. Supreme Court ruling, states can only require sellers that have a physical presence or "nexus" in the same state as the consumer to collect sales taxes. The Supreme Court also ruled that while buyers essentially owe the tax on purchases, the mishmash of taxing jurisdictions is too complex and burdensome for online retailers to charge and try to collect sales taxes.

Imposing a tax requirement would have a serious negative impact on online retailers, so the court ruled that states would have to create a much more streamlined system across jurisdictions.

But now Congress is taking another look at the situation. The objective is to create a "level playing field" for all retailers - to take the tax advantage away from online sellers.

Two bills are currently before Congress. One of them proposes giving congressional approval to an agreement hammered out by various state governments. That agreement attempts to simplify more than 7,500 sales tax laws within the state and local governments involved. The second bill is similar, but with the addition of an exemption for smaller retailers based on total sales volumes.

Advocates claim the current regime is unfair, and will inevitably lead to higher taxes in other areas because local governments are not getting their share of tax revenue.

RIM weathers the patent battle, subscriptions continue growth

Confronted with the ongoing patent battle with NTP, RIM (Research in Motion) continues to perform well, in spite of recent reservations expressed by some investment experts.

RIM continues to perform strongly, reporting earnings of 71 cents a share on a 53% jump in sales. This exceeded previous estimates. RIM's total subscribers now stand at 4.3 million, after adding 645,000 in the past quarter.

RIM CEO Jim Balsillie recently announced that the company is close to completing a "workaround" that would allow them to carry on business even if a threatened injunction shuts their core service down in the U.S. The "workaround" announcement was greeted with considerable scepticism and was seen by some as a negotiating tactic.

Google goes after the enterprise with Google Search Appliance

The last year has seen Google attempting to expand its search expertise into the "enterprise" arena. The release of its Google Search Appliance (GSA) in 2004 was meant to help customers simplify search on their intranets and Web sites.

Google sees this as an opportunity to broaden its product offerings. According to Google Enterprise general manager Dave Girouard, "You can easily find all the information you want about the migration habits of peacocks, but finding a document or piece of information that resides within your own company has become more difficult."

Google is targeting small and medium-sized businesses with the release of its upgraded $5,000 appliance. More than 2,000 businesses worldwide use Google's integrated hardware and software search solution.

Bloggers can make ad revenue with video ads

Vive Network puts rich-media advertising on blogs. Ted Land, a Vive spokesperson said the company is primarily interested in blogs targeting entertainment, TV, sports and automobiles.

In order to carry Vive's content, a blog must meet quality and content standards and have sufficient traffic to make it worthwhile. When approved, bloggers can add the rich-media content by copying and pasting a few lines of code.

As the dollar figures pour in and the numbers are tabulated and with business analysts predicting a record breaking online holiday shopping season, it appears the projections were right on target.

Although the final holiday shopping sales figures aren't in yet, preliminary reports from a wide spectrum of sources point to online sales that have met expectations and will make e-tailers, large and small, very satisfied with the results.

According to comScore, the latest "2005 Online Holiday Shopping Update" reflects that non-travel spending for the first 46 days of the holiday season (November 1-December 16) totaled 15.86 billion dollars. This represents a 23% increase over the same period in 2004. In addition, comScore estimates that U.S. Internet sales will exceed 19 billion dollars (excluding travel) for the holiday season, an increase of 24% above 2004 sales figures.

What were the best selling days during this online shopping period? What were the sales for the highly anticipated "Black Monday"?

The results are in and surprisingly, Monday, November 28 (Black Monday) ranked ninth in a listing of the top ten non-travel online holiday shopping spending days among U.S. home, work and university Internet users for the holiday shopping period of November 1-December 16, 2005, with online sales estimated at 484 million dollars.

The top selling day? So far, that distinction goes to Monday, December 12, 2005, with total sales of 556 million dollars. A close second was Tuesday, December 13, 2005, with sales of 554 million dollars and astonishingly these two days combined topped 1.1 billion dollars in online retail sales.

Furthermore, according to the latest "Holiday eSpending Report", (released by Goldman Sachs, Nielsen/Net Ratings and Harris Interactive), it is estimated that online shoppers spent 18.6 billion dollars during the first six weeks of the 2005 holiday season (October 29-December 9), a 16% increase for U.S. online spending compared to the same period in 2004.

To summarize, these preliminary reports offer a positive outlook for e-tailers as the e-commerce industry continues to evolve and prosper. Internet users are taking advantage of new web sites, specialty sites and shops, virtual online shopping malls, niche marketing and the holiday sales figures reflect this phenomenon.

What folks don't understand is that online marketing does not have to be very complicated. It just needs the right stuff to keep you going.

For instance the use of mailing list, in particular opt in list. Before, no one ever dared to use opt in list thinking that it will not do any good for their business. Almost all entrepreneurs think that building an opt in list is just a waste of time and money. What they do not know is that, according to the “golden oversee of the Internet,” money is in the list. It has most likely been voiced before, and is worth repeating, money is really in the list.

Why? Because with opt in lists, this allows you to keep your readers on the hook by providing them with information, promotion, and other campaigns in order to persuade them to buy from you again.

Essentially, opt in lists are lists of email addresses of customers with their consent. This means that after the purchaser had closed the transaction in a particular web site, there is an option on whether or not they wish to subscribe to the correspondence of the online business for any future promotions, newsletters, or campaigns that they would contrarily be told of.

And because it is an option, the customers are not required to make available their email addresses to the internet site. Also, the web site owners will not be accused of spamming because emails that will be sent to the customers have the consent of the client. Once you start to move beyond basic background information, you begin to realize that there's more to Opt In List than you may have first thought.

Building an opt in list can be very valuable to your site. Clearly, it has been proven that in the two-step concept of retailing, follow-ups are worthwhile to prolong the interest of the consumers. The other step is to obtain the interest of the buyer.

For this reason, in order to sustain the interest of your buying audience, it is very best to create an opt in list so that allows you to give your customers the chance to remember your products, your business, and your services, in which they have been satisfied with.

To know more of the advantages of Building an opt in list for your business; here is a list that would tell you the reasons why it is beneficial.

1. Opt in lists are the business’ most significant asset

If you were to ask the owners of some online business preparing their most important asset, they will tell you that it is their opt in list. This is because opt in lists are customers’ lists that can provide higher probability for sales in a more uniform and stable condition. Because with opt in lists, all you have to do is to follow up orders or sales through promotions and ad campaigns.

2. It is always available

The perfect thing in reference to opt in list is that it never grows old. Similar to long similar to your purchaser needs something to survive, your communication with them will never grow old. This means that allows you to have a fresh, new transaction with them whenever you tell them that you have new services or products. Every transaction is a new way of bettering your profits. Unquestionably put, no opt in list = no sales.

3. Bigger opt in list would mean bigger profits

The more client’s names and email addresses you have on your list, the more chances you have in increasing your online sales. Every name, every email send can be worth a hundred dollars that can be compiled with each transaction. Therefore, the larger your list, the more money you will have.

When all is said and done, opt in lists are not just ordinary correspondences. It is the center of of an online businesses existence and endurance. That is why for everybody who value their businesses, they extend the same value they offer to their opt in list. No wonder the reason most everyone regard it similar to the perfect partnership available online.

After a successful gig at Locobazooka, Uplift is poised to take their new music to the masses. Nothing Left Behind is quickly receiving recognition by a growing fan base and when 2006 is over the album looks as if it will fall snugly into the top of the indie rock-metal charts.

Uplift has shared the stage with Alice in Chains, Social Burn, Days of The New, Ra, Wicked Wisdom, PM5K, Buckcherry, Black Stone Cherry, and Bipolar. There is no doubt that soon they will be right up there amongst the headliners with the strong momentum that will carry them right into the New Year.

Uplift is part of the new wave of bands that know how to utilize the tools available to reach music fans. They have secured performance dates through the fall of this year and continually update their website, while building profiles on community based sites like My Space. This proactive approach is making things move at the speed of light for the band and everyone involved is very excited.

Endorsements from Krank Amps, GHS Strings, a major distribution initiative through Trans World’s Localeyez program and a college radio campaign combines to pack a powerful media punch for the band. The band will have a chance at earning major retail placement based on their reported online sales, tireless promotion, and their spot on business acumen.

Uplift features the vocals of Jason Arigoni aka Jsin, their fiery leader, and owner of the band’s label Mohawk Recording Group, a full-service independent record label catering to independent musicians, Dan Zavadil (bass), Dave Mason (guitars), and Alex Fuller (drums). They have found a chemistry that works well and the result is their incredible success. Their music and energy is compelling, electrifying, and reflected on Nothing Left Behind.

The band looks forward to touring and meeting their audiences wherever they land. With an endless flow of power, stage presence, and charisma, Uplift is ready to take on the world and blaze a path for other indie bands to follow.

when I first heard the phrase 'Long Tail Marketing' I did a double take and wondered what the heck the phrase was referring to? Little did I know then how important a factor it would play in the overall success of my online websites.

I first heard of Long Tail Marketing from Chris Knight who runs Ezinearticles.com, an online article site which is ranked around the Top 500 sites on the Internet. Ezinearticles had also sent over 50 thousand unique visitors to my main website so I knew any marketing information coming from Chris was the real deal.

Unfortunately, when you run several sites on Internet marketing you are constantly bombarded with online marketing products, techniques and the latest marketing fads... you become very cynical of the latest trends. I only half-heartily started testing Long Tail marketing - huge mistake - for I immediately started seeing results with my online sales. Just wish I had paid more attention to Chris's advice on Long Tail marketing and implemented it sooner in my overall marketing strategy.

It has made all the difference in the profitability of my websites. The reasons why are explained below, as well as a detailed description of Long Tail Marketing and how you can use it to boost or increase your online sales.

Don't make my initial mistake, discover everything you can about Long Tail Marketing and start using it in your own marketing.

What Is Long Tail Marketing?

Long Tail Marketing refers to the technique or method of using a long string of keywords when targeting prospective buyers. Instead of using/targeting one or two single keywords in your online marketing - you use a longer keyword phrase or a whole group of related keywords - thus the name, a long tail or string of keywords.

Perhaps, the best way to explain Long Tail Marketing is to use a simple example. Lets say you have a travel business and you have an online site associated with your business. Instead of targeting the keyword 'vacations' which will be very competitive and very hard to place on the first page SERPs in the major search engines such as Google, MSN, Yahoo... now with Long Tail Marketing, instead of targeting the broader competitive keyword 'vacations', you target a longer, more precise phrase - 'honeymoon vacation packages to Niagara Falls'.

Keep in mind that keywords are the exact words surfers type into search engines to find what they're looking for on the web. You can plainly see that the second keyword phrase is more targeted than the general keyword 'vacations'.

Why Is Long Tail Marketing So Effective?

There are several reasons why Long Tail Marketing is so effective. It has narrowed down and targeted exactly what the prospective buyer is searching for. It is precisely the product or service that they intend to buy. It's only a matter of you selling it to them.

But more importantly, by using Long Tail Marketing, you have found the prospective buyer at the exact time or stage when they are ready to buy. You have found them at the right moment in their buying process - they have made up their minds to exactly what they want and are just looking for a quality product or service to meet their needs. You satisfy their needs with a quality product or service.

Lets look at an example from my own marketing, I run a simple online laptop guide within one of my sites. Instead of targeting the very competitive and unreachable general keyword 'laptops', I go for a longer keyword phrase such as 'best gaming laptops'. And the even more targeted 'Alienware Aurora m7700' - someone searching for the last keyword phrase more than likely has already decided on what type of gaming laptop they want to buy. This last keyword phrase is much more likely to convert into a sale.

How do I Use Long Tail Marketing with My site?

Remember back to when you last bought something online, what keywords did you use to find it? If you have an online business, you must target the keyword phrases your customers would use to find your product or service. You have to find these keyword phrases and use them in your marketing.

Most professional marketers use some type of keyword software to research their keywords and keyword phrases. I use the very powerful Keyword Elite by Brad Callen and it quickly gives me all the keyword information I need to put my Long Tail Marketing into place.

But this software is expensive, so another alternative would be to use such sites as Wordtracker or the one I like www.nichebot.com - it will tell you how many searches are made each month for your chosen keyword phrase and give you some indication of your competition.

The real beauty of using Long Tail keywords - there is little or no competition for your keywords. You will find it easier to place on the first page of the different search engine for your targeted phrase. If you do Pay-Per-Click advertising, you will save on costs by using Long Tail keywords. Plus, both your conversion rate and ROI will be higher.

Marketing Tip: Always create a page on your site for each Long Tail keyword phrase you target, place it in the title and the url. Plus, if you write articles, place your keyword phrase in the title of your article and syndicate your articles around the web using sites like Ezinearticles.com mentioned above.

Of course, all income results from Long Tail Marketing or any marketing method will depend on your own effects and marketing abilities. No one can guarantee sales but I hope you will give Long Tail Marketing a go. It is simple, direct and effective.

Approaching the point of a mature business brings decisions of policy that are best not left to chance. Various factors are involved in deciding how much stock to hold. Along with a gut feel these should lead to a policy decision so that the purchase of inventory for an online company doesn't end up like the tail wagging the dog, overshadowing the profit business model. We will take the example of retailing chess sets and other chess products in analysing the factors in coming to the right decision.

The Range
If a large range of chess products are held, such as with Chess Baron in the US, UK and France, how much of each line should be held? Clearly if an eCommerce
company such as this had 20 different lines, the solution is simple, and the ratio of stock value to total retail sales looks pleasing to any bank manager, perhaps around 10%. In the above example, the retailer runs with a fairly large inventory compared to many in the industry, almost 200 lines in total.
To hold even ten of each line means a stock total of 2000 units, which with a purchase price of $50 on average, means that the cost of stock is very significant. With a typical turnover of this kind of store perhaps reaching over $120K, the ratio of stock value to retail sales approaches 100%. The inventory also represents an asset for the company, and so the asset will be taxed as if cash - almost definitely meaning a loss or break even for the first two years as the stock is ramped up - unless something can be done to reduce the inventory level, which looks mandatory at this ratio level. Stores such as ChessBaron hold somewhere in the region of $60K in stock, but giants of the industry such as WholesaleChess would hold an inventory value of $200K. The largest chess retailer - ChessUSA also has a store in New York and holds a minimum of $300K in stock at any one time.

Where it comes from

If the chess goods come from a domestic source, the stock holding can be reduced whilst keeping in touch with stock levels at the supplier. Buying from wholesalers who have gone through the pain of buying from China or India, etc., suggests that the higher price may be worthwhile in some cases. When this is not available, the model of purchasing from less developed countries means that stock cannot follow any slick JIT model, nor bought from the suppliers as orders arrive, except in high unit price chess sets which are often built to order. This clearly influences the stock level decision - purchasing chess sets from India just isn't as fast or flexible as buying from a domestic wholesaler.

Intelligent Stocking

Clearly some items sell better than others. With our example, having a wide range is part of the store's marketing strategy. ChessBaron holds so mnay lines that generally anyone that wants to buy chess sets can buy from them, they'll find something that is appropriate. Holding just a few of the slower selling chess sets and marking them out of stock when sold instead of rushing to get them in to the order about to ship from India (for example) means that the stock level is better controlled. The converse obviously applies to the faster selling lines. Some lines ARE purchased from domestic sources, - these could be drop shipped instead of held as stock if that facility exists. Smaller margin, true, but no cash tied up in expensive stock. Making sure the manufacturer follows through with replacements for faulty chess pieces, which would otherwise render the entire chess set useless will reduce the need for ordering some sets, whilst simultaneously making the manufacturer feel the pain of blemishes and lax quality control.

Comfort Level

When the business starts, there is some need for juggling stock to fill orders as replacements or free upgrades, or just suggested alternatives. There is little cash and orders for chess sets from India are inflexible and slow. This means constantly being on the phone to the customer - 'Sorry sir, we've run
out of the Carved Napolean Chess set (well, we only had one, and it was sold three weeks ago), but can I recommend the Chamfered base staunton chess set, which you could have for the same price...?'- sorting out endless problems because of stock levels that are too low. Having the chess sets in stock, being able to lift one of twenty off the shelf and being able to fill the order easily means time allowed for further selling or just sanity of life. So some inventory level is required when it comes to running an active business, even if slick consultants may urge a minimal stock level ordering small shipments from India with double wrapping and double stress.

Balancing these factors leads to the conclusion that significant chess stock is required, whilst minimising inventory levels by intelligent stocking and supplier orders. It's the nature of the game - there is a good markup in the retailing of chess sets, but the downside is the expense of the stock held and the level of inventory required.