Do we really need someone to guide us each step of the way toward our goals in business? Well, the answer to this question depends entirely on our individual requirements and our favoured approach. To begin with, any business coaching expert can deliver excellent support and advice to an individual or to large group, helping them to rapidly learn specific skills or to achieve certain goals. Certain characteristics that identify him are his result oriented mindset, excellent leadership skills, intently focused attention, impressive listening ability, knowledgeable nature and the fact that he always sets very high standards for himself and others.

The vast majority of private business owners and executives don’t have any extra time, so they’re just not able to apply themselves to strategic matters such as management training, employee development, customer satisfaction, etc, and at the brief periods when they do direct their attention to these areas, they often don’t have the necessary skills to address them effectively.

For individuals who are experiencing difficulty with managing their business, a business coach has the ability to place you on the right path, walking beside you - every single step of the way. Some of the areas in which a business coach will be beneficial are:

1. Improve Communication and Interpersonal Skills - A business coach can significantly improve the communication and interpersonal skills of your employees, and for every single member in the organisation, he can help them to gain a better understanding of their individual tasks and roles.

2. Strategic Thinking - A business coach can strategically shape the thinking of the employees and managers toward new trains of thought in an effort to come up with beneficial ideas and improve business. The idea here is to direct them toward thinking “outside the box”, rather than pursuing their usual methods for solving problems.

3. Time Management - Time management is the key to being effective in your work. A business coach will guide employees in all aspects of effectively managing their time so they are able to complete their tasks on time and conform to improved quality standards.

4. Increase Productivity - A business coach contributes toward the enhancement of the productivity of employees through motivation and by developing in them a feeling of self-awareness.

5. Improve Customer Satisfaction - A motivated and empowered employee is far better able to understand the needs and desires of the customers, leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit customer satisfaction.

6. Keeping a Balance between Professional and Personal Life - Some employees are unable to keep a balance between their work and personal lives. Personal problems often impact their work efficiency and they are then unable to give 100% of themselves to the tasks at hand. A business coach teaches them how to maintain a balance between them so that neither of the two overshadows the importance of the other.

7. Conflict Management - Conflicts and crises are a part and parcel of a business, and to deal with them effectively is an extremely crucial part of the survival of the business. A business coach is a person who teaches you how - almost as if by magic, to approach a problematic situation with a positive mindset.

So, if the management of an organisation is inclined toward developing and enhancing its competencies to better meet the needs of its growing business, then a skilled Business Coach is akin to the golden key - unlocking every door, helping each individual to achieve their personal hopes and greatest aspirations.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of the L2L Group, specialising in supplying Executive Coaching, Training and Consultancy Services to Businesses around the World. Want to find out more about these comprehensive business building success strategies? Get Alan’s phenomenal FREE Business Pack right now!

In an attempt to define an effective set of management processes, ISO 9001:2000 has a section devoted to the management of the contract process. Previous versions of the Standard (e.g. ISO9001:1994) described this process as Contract Review, an unmistakable indication of its original nature and intended purpose. ISO 9001:2000 has located it in a section (7.2.2) “Review of requirements related to the product”. In both instances the goal was to make sure that organisations were able to, and required to, clearly evaluate the customer needs before obligating themselves to a contract, and also to find out the extent of their ability to meet these particular requirements.

But isn’t this obvious? Possibly, and no one is claiming any originality for this inclusion in the Standard. The imperative question at this point is, what led the creators of the Standard to believe that it was somehow important to re-state what was blatantly obvious? How often as individuals have we been told, “I didn’t know you meant that”, or “Oh, that’s what you meant”? These are clear indications of a supplier’s misunderstanding of the customer requirement, OR a lack of understanding of how to meet the customer requirement, OR simply an inability to meet the requirement; maybe in most cases, a combination of these leads to a customer becoming dissatisfied. Contract Review as we will call it here, is outlined to remove any misunderstanding of the requirement, while conveying an assurance of the supplier’s current ability and capability to accommodate the necessary requirements.

At its simplest, the requirement leads the potential supplier to fully understand the customer’s needs and expectations, while assessing his (the suppliers) ability to adequately meet those needs. This ability isn’t just restricted to the production and delivery of products and services; it includes provision in a time specific domain and at a level of expense which is acceptable to the client. Also, there is an implicit requirement, if not otherwise specified, that the product is fit for purpose, conforms to legislative requirements, and will be supported in an appropriate manner after sale. The Standard states that the potential supplier must verify this before the actual submission of a bid or a quote.

If there is an acceptable bid, then the next stage would usually be the delivery to the potential supplier of a contract or a purchase order. The Standard demands a review of this document before any acceptance, to verify the ongoing acceptable status of the requirement and the ability of the organisation to accommodate the obligations set forth in the offered contract. This latter element might seem obvious to the point of being unnecessary, but with any organisation there is a great temptation to accept any and all orders, particularly during a general down-turn in business prospects, and to worry about the consequences later. This strategy is not good for either party, so the requirement is for the potential supplier to conduct another review where key aspects of the proffered contract are compared to the organisations ability to deliver to the requirements. These include:

1. Ensuring that the product (or service) requirements are (adequately) defined.

2. Any requirements that differ from those previously expressed (the bid invitation and quotation) are resolved.

3. Confirming that the organisation has the ability to meet the defined requirements.

Most observers of this review requirement would probably agree on the reasonableness of the requirements, and maybe add further detail, but independent audit experience suggests this review is seldom carried out with any rigour, frequently being confined to a cursory assessment by a sales department manager, more concerned with incoming order value than the organisations technical and administrative ability to deliver.

If companies are to improve their image in the market place, and with their customer base, the requirement to seriously review the commitments they are about to make with any new contract is an essential step towards this improvement strategy.

Ed. Bones is a chartered quality professional and an IRCA registered Lead Auditor. He is also a senior partner with the Meon Consulting Group, supplying expert audit and consultant services for ISO9001 & ISO14001 management systems. The company web site provides detailed information for your perusal, and includes the special offer of FREE Advice. Want to learn more?

In order to get successful in selling on online auctions, you need to get acquainted with some useful tips. People usually participate in auctions to bid for used items, including antiques and other useful stuff.

Used items are usually purchased by their enthusiasts, who know ways to utilize or make good use of these items. From the past couple of years, online auctions are also getting quite popular, and the reason for this is the ease of its administration. Any one can participate in these auctions, and just need to login on an auction website, and start by placing bids. These auctions have not only brought benefits for buyers, but sellers are also using them for selling.

The trends are changing, and even some of the retailers are offering new products for selling on online auctions. It sometimes happens that some retailers/marketers also introduce new products for sale, mainly because they bought these products at the wholesale price, and now want to fetch a better price, because the product in high demand. We can easily make sure that which auction sites are useful for the sale of different products, and can also know about the tendency of people to make the transition from the traditional shopping to shopping on the Internet.

There is another secret that most of the people dont know, and that is the use of Dropshipping in selling on online auctions. Most of the people are unaware of this fact, mainly because they dont like to know about the details. Dropshipping is basically a process, where a retailers/sellers routes products directly from the source to the customers; this allows them to save more money.

Wholesalers are the persons who store and deliver the required products, and the seller only displays them on his/her website. Once the order is given, the seller simply forwards the order to the wholesaler, who transports it to the customer. Dropshipping is an extremely useful process that is being used by different companies on the Internet, involving the provision of various products from the source or the wholesaler to the customer. This process provides a lot of money to the retailer, especially by avoiding the costs of packaging, storage and delivery.

If you are considering selling in online auctions then it is strongly advised that you must always use the Dropshipping, because it allows you a better profit margin. When you participate in auctions and get successful with sale of your product, you can easily order your wholesaler to deliver the product to the customer. Always find the most reliable wholesalers for your business. Wholesale dropshippers can easily help a retailer in Selling Online Auction, and get the best price for your products.

Whether training is considered to be an investment or an expense depends exclusively on someone’s perspective. However, it is generally accepted that training is an investment - which pays dividends, on a daily basis. Is this true? Let’s find out. Is this true? Let’s take a look.

Training is an endeavour which is pursued by an organisation with the primary aim of developing new skills, or improving the existing ones in its employees. In most situations, training is usually only provided to employees and managers - management training for example, but in certain circumstances it can be extended to customers and suppliers as well. The ultimate aim of training is to facilitate a better understanding of the essential concepts in the employees so that they can actively participate in conducting the various activities in extended areas of the business enterprise.

As most business coaching experts agree, there is always a delay experienced by a business between the time of investment in training and the time when the benefits are realised. This delay varies in duration depending on the kind of investment and the actual scope of the training which has been undertaken. Training is generally considered to be a long-term investment, which very rarely pays off quickly; in most situations the real differences are seen in time. The returns on training endeavours are not realised at any single point in time - they pay off daily, therefore they are regarded as “Dividends”.

Training dividends are not directly measured in monetary terms, but can be noticed in terms of:

1. Increased Productivity - By providing in-depth training, the productivity of the employees can be dramatically increased, thereby empowering the workforce to be able to set their own goals and achieve them consistently.

2. Improved Communication and Participation - Training greatly helps in the improvement of communication among the staff members of an organisation.

3. Waste Reduction - With training, the workforce is able to understand the effective ways of doing a particular task and the procedures for minimising any wasted time or materials in their activities.

4. Reduced Labour Turnover - Trained and empowered employees are satisfied with the work that they do. This in turn automatically improves the retention of the employees in the business and significantly increases the loyalty of the current ones.

5. Improved Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty - When a customer is satisfied with the products and services of a company - he becomes loyal, and for the foreseeable future he will also be a source of continuous revenue for the company.

So finally, we have found that training is definitely a dividend driving activity! If you want to ensure that healthy dividends are always realised from training, you should conduct every aspect of this training with a decisive aim in mind.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of the L2L Group. He specialises in delivering Executive Coaching, Training and Consultancy Services to International Businesses across the World. Want to discover more about these insightful business building success strategies? Get Alan’s essential FREE Business Pack today!