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Archive for May, 2010

It might seem counter-intuitive to think about gratitude when it comes to developing strategies for sales and business in general. From an early age, people are taught that competitive strategies must, by definition, begin with a winning attitude, where one tries to get the winning edge over others at any cost. While this may lead to some short-term successes, in the long run, it can be very detrimental for a company, along with its individuals. For truly sustainable business practices, gratitude can be an enormously useful tool, and an effective one for any sales training .

This doesn’t mean bowing down before anyone. That’s never necessary, because an attitude of gratitude puts people on equal footing. If one treats others with respect, they can find that they are treated with respect in turn. It’s something that comes as a natural result of being true to one’s ideals, and treating others with the courtesies that one wants for themselves. It is a part of the equation for attracting positive attitudes. Like attracts like, and when one begins any transaction by acknowledging the good in the moment, things do tend to work out to everyone’s advantage.

These principles work equally well for any customer service course , because they do tend to work in almost any situation, and sales techniques have obvious applications in the customer service realm, too. In the cases where one is put in the position of handling complaints and other issues, gratitude is indeed a very useful tool. It can be something as strategic as the old ” killing them with kindness ,” technique, but it needn’t enter into that realm at all.

Defensiveness of any kind is very easy to read, and it sets up an equation where positive attitudes are out of the picture. Bringing back the thoughts of what one is grateful for, even in moments with customers who might be a little difficult, can turn a tense situation into a calm one. And calm situations are excellent moments to find ways of creating positive attitudes, with some very positive results.

If you know you have been working hard and you haven’t gotten a raise in a while, it might be a good time to talk to your boss. The economy is on the rise and most companies are starting to make a little more money again. However asking for money can be hard to do. Here are a few tips to help you earn a little extra money.

Attract Positive Attention
Between one and six months before you ask for a raise find out if your company offers any kind of business training courses or team building training . If they don’t, find one you can attend that is not sponsored by your work. After attending put the tips you learn to action daily in your job. This will make you boss and those higher up take notice of you. Going to a training without needing to can show that you are loyal to the company and you want to learn to do better in your job.

Ask at the Right Moment
There is no bigger mistake than asking at the wrong time. Obviously when your boss is in a bad mood may not be the best time to talk to them about getting a raise. If you can help it, wait until your boss gives you some kind of praise . Try not to ask for a raise when your boss has just been passed over for a raise as that is almost a sure fire way to not get a raise.

Make it About the Company
Instead of making it about you, show your boss why you deserve a raise. Show them the money you have earned the company, saved, or otherwise improved the corporate culture.

Ask for Specifics
Know the fair market value of your position and ask for it. Let them know that you know your own value and you feel that you deserve to be paid like it. Don’t forget that if you already have professional training and development it might be worth getting a little more money as the market value of those skills goes up.

When in Punta Cana, you must eat at these three restaurants: Capitan Cook’s, Jellyfish and La Yola’s. They are on the expensive side, but if you’re a foodie, these three establishments are a requirement and they are all within walking distance from any Punta Cana hotel, so there’s no excuse to not try any one of these marvelous cuisines.

Capitan Cook’s is a seafood restaurant located in Bavaro and their King Crab legs, their lobster and other fish dishes are to die for. All the fish and crustaceans are fresh catches of the day and kept on ice in a fiberglass vault and when time, only brought out to be grilled right in front of you as you sit on the sand at the water’s edge and watch fishermen hang up their days catch by the tail. As you eat your sizzling meal, you’ll be serenaded by a mariachis band as a crowd of stars above shine overhead.

Jellyfish, also located in Bavaro and a seafood eatery is a sophisticated, al-fresco restaurant on the sand. The restaurant itself is shaped like a double-deck yacht. You’ll sit at tables that are light wooden platforms and be shelters by barely enclosed thatched roofing. Their seafood is also fresh, caught by the Punta Cana fishermen, but the restaurant also serves up beef and chicken dishes, plus a children’s menu is available. Jellyfish’s oven-baked langosta de las casa (house lobster) is memorable and when you’re back home, you’ll get a craving to once again bite into this exquisitely prepared dish. Jellyfish’s menu is a little bit more diverse than Capitan Cook’s by offering crawfish, octopus and conch. Plus, the De Leon Cigar smoking lounge is not to be missed after your meal, where (if arranged ahead of time), you can meet the owner and light up and sample several of the cigars for sale. The restaurant offers free transportation to and from your Punta Cana hotel .

La Yola serves up an delightful Mediterranean cuisine. You’ll be dining on a deck overlooking the harbor and Marina . Your backdrop is the ocean and you eat al-fresco with thatched cane used for overhead shelter. La Yola not only serves the best Mediterranean, but also Caribbean. Naturally seafood and fish are a major part of La Yola’s menu, but you will find some beef and chicken items. La Yola’s appetizer consists of a spicy tuna tartare served with guacamole relish, this started, with its bursting flavor, will only tease you taste buds for what’s about to come, the main course. The Bake Chilean sea bass with clam and cherry tomato risotto is highly recommended.

You can’t go wrong at any of these top-notch restaurants, expensive yes, but the food is the best in Punta Cana. Remember, even though you are at a beach-side community, these restaurants require you dress accordingly, no shorts, tank-tops or beachwear is acceptable and make reservations.

In the music industry, it’s become something of a necessary pronouncement to declare your hometown as boring and dry, and the Mannheim-based Fluids make this claim because they are as savvy as a band can be. But visitors here should remember that they are actually from Koblenz, and the criticism is leveled there and not necessarily here. However, there are plenty of post-punk musicians, and they’re included, from Germany who declare that Germany itself is the most boring country in the world. It’s also necessary to remember that one of the most interesting things about the country is that the cultures here have been bored for so long, that it’s become a terribly interesting component of the art.

Visiting here means staying in pretty spectacular Mannheim hotels , eating fabulous food in sidewalk cafes and fancy restaurants, and enjoying all the local scene has to offer. Mannheim’s history as a city for music is very long, and very impressive, and there’s plenty of classical music to hear, played live or piped in. Like any progressive city in Germany, the new music scenes are always in motion, developing fluidly between and among genres. The bass thumping from car radios as traffic lights is always going to be over 180 beats per minute, and techno is everywhere.

But so is punk, and with the Fluids , the future is in very good hands, although they may be bored hands. It’s filled with angst that ranges from the adolescent to the melancholic, and always complex, and the performance is one of magnificent boredom. This is the minimal sound that made it interesting in the early 80s, and 30 years later it’s back with these three terribly interesting musicians. In the intervening years, techno has come to take over most of everything, and the influence is absolutely in the music. It’s a welcome component, too, because the monotony helps to drive the sound forward until it becomes something else, something entirely relevant, from a pulse that suggests that something is happening here.

An intersection between culture and history, Lisbon is a place of multiple overlappings. One moment speaks to an enormous history surrounding the moment that preceded it, and the future is always visible, if not palpable. It’s a cultural paradise, and one that’s certainly informed by its history, and there are moments when this is more keenly felt than others. In some of the more densely-populated areas, there is a present that is only eclipsed by a future that’s just a split-second away, and the contemporary waves of world trends and events washes through the atmosphere. In some of the isolated areas, or even in the city centers, in times of quiet, it’s possible to imagine a time when the Visitgoths came calling, and the ghosts from earthquakes might be glimpsed.

It’s always only for a moment, and they leave as quickly as they come, but they repeat. One of the brilliant things about Lisbon is its capacity to host a repeatable moment, and some are more repeatable than others. Anyone who’s ever had the chance to visit Pasteis de Belem can understand this. It’s an unusual sensation to recall that time when, sipping a coffee and eating one of their delectable goodies, the world was felt as a vibrant, quaking whole. It’s not hard to fall in love with Portugal, and sometimes in Lisbon, it’s easy to fall in love while in Portugal.

There are other places to enjoy a great espresso, like the famous Cafe Nicola with its complex and deft treatment of the bean. It’s difficult, however, to repeat the ambience of the Pasteis de Belem, with its history that goes back almost 200 years where people from the monastery started selling the pastries for the first time. It’s sometimes palpable just how close those moments fold into this one, where it also seems as though everybody here is here and there at the same time. Recalling it later, in the luxury of a Lisbon hotel , there are dreams of a pleasant repetition.

There are some interesting things to see while spending time in Manila Philippines. There are a few museums and cathedrals that may capture your attention. The National Museum of the Philippines has quite a few exhibits of interest. The National Art Gallery has a splendid entrance with sculptures of Manuel Quezon, who was the former Senate President and Sergio Osmena, who was the former Speaker of the House. These sculptures were created by the amazing Guillermo Tolentino who is a Nationally recognized artist.  

The museum building itself was originally supposed to be a public library, but ended up being built as a home for the Legislature and was opened in 1926. The first floor did in fact become a library and the second, third and fourth floor became the meeting place for the Senate and House of Representatives. The Constitutional Convention took place in this building in 1934. Many other historical events happened here such as the swearing in the President of Commonwealth, Manuel L. Quezon, on the steps out front. It was converted into the Museum in the mid 1990s after the Senate of the Philippines moved out in 1996. It has become a nice museum with a focus on the Filipino people and it has a splendid planetarium inside as well.  

Not far from your hotel accommodations in Manila you will find some Cathedrals and churches that you may find interesting. The Manila Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica has some amazing history that dates back to the late 1500s. This is when the city of Manila was established by the Spanish conqueror, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. There were a number of cathedrals that were built on this site and the present form is the eighth cathedral built after the bombing of the previous building during the Battle of Liberation which happened in 1945. The Manila Cathedral opened its doors again in 1958 and quickly became a strong symbolic for the Catholic Church.