Ecuador is a rich country when it comes to biodiversity. Even
though Ecuador is only the size of the state of Nevada, its
biodiversity exceeds the one from the United States in total.
According to the World Resource
Institute Ecuador is one of the few countries on earth
categorized as “megadiverse,” owing to the variety of its
ecosystems and species.

Within three hours, you can drive in Ecuador from arctic tundra
to sweltering beaches, from a temperate pine forest to a
tropical wet forest, from a desert landscape to wetlands filled
with mangroves. Ecuador is also the most ethnically diversified
country in Latin America, a home to large Arab, Asian,
Caucasian, African, and Jewish populations. In the Native Indian
population, one can find tribes living in very primitive
conditions, from those who were recently head shrinkers to the
most entrepreneurial otavalenos, known around the globe for the
quality of their textiles.

According to the Natura
Foundation, an environmental non governmental organization
(NGO), approximately 50 percent of Ecuador is suffering from
various degrees of soil erosion, and deforestation is 45 percent
in the lowlands, 48 percent in the highlands, and 8 percent in
the Amazon basin. Thousands of acres of forest disappear daily,
despite laws that prohibit the cutting down of trees and the
exportation of wood. It has been calculated that deforestation
amounts to 680,000 acres per year (approximately 2,000 per day),
and in less that forty years not a single forest will remain.

We can certainly say that biodiversity in Ecuador is decreasing
rapidly. Several aspects of the society are to blame. Mainly the
lack of enforcement of laws and the corruption by the government
seem to have a great affect on the preservation of the countries
most valuable treasure. The lack of insight in small communities
who own large parts of natural habitat of animals is also a
threat. Preservation of the biological diversity can be achieved
by educating these communities and stimulating ecotourism, or
sustainable development.

A camping gear checklist is an important tool to help you prepare and pack for that annual family camping trip. The last thing you want to remember about that camping trip is how you forgot that one piece of important gear and made the whole family unhappy. Remember to check and double check that list before you leave.

When you are going RV camping or just a simple weekend hiking trip bring along that camp gear checklist and just make sure you have plenty of room for food and camping supplies for the days your there.

Don’t over pack, just make sure you are packing the right stuff on that gear list that you would actually use, necessities are a must like your backpacks, tents, cooking equipment, sleeping bags, camping furniture for the kids so they can unwind and relax.

The easiest method of making up a quick camping check list is dividing your list into categories starting at food you will pack, camping supply needed or gear and equipment. Checklists should be made up at home, once you know your camping destination you can then figure what you need to bring.

In the end if you follow your checklist right up to before leaving the house you should have all the camping stuff you will need to make your trip a success with minimal headache.

L. Dente is a successful author and publisher of http://www.discount-camping-gear.org Get information on discount camping gear like backpacks, tents, sleeping bags, camping furniture, cookware and other camping stuff.

They’re sneaky. And stealthy. They’re quiet and mostly unobtrusive, but once you’ve been visited by them, you’ll know it. Because you’ll be inundated with a seemingly never-ending stream of spam-mails.

They’re email harvesting robots, and chances are you’ve been visited by one.

What these insidious creatures do is crawl your site, much like the search engine spiders do, and collect any and all email addresses they find there. Many of them crawl your entire site, following every link, gathering email addresses from your guestbook, your message boards, databases, and everywhere else they can get to.

What happens next is so sinister, so unthinkable; I can barely say it. They put your email addresses on CDRom and sell them- as opt-in lists. You’ve seen them, “20,000 targeted email addresses for only $29.95!”, or my personal favorite, “Send 10 Bazillion emails- WITHOUT SPAMMING!!”. What you didn’t know was that it was YOUR email address they were selling.

To find out if your site has been visited by an email harvester, you only need to look at your logs. If your web host provides you with your stats, you can look in the Browser report for any of the following:

• EmailSiphon
• Crescent Internet Tool Pack v1.0
• Cherry Picker
• Email Collector
• Libwww-perl 1.0

If you don’t have a stats program, you can examine your logs for visits from these agents. The easiest way to do this is to download them and open them in a program with a search function (like Wordpad). Then you can search for the names listed above.

So, what can you do to protect your site from these evil robots? Unfortunately, there’s no single magic solution. There are, however steps you can take to discourage them.

The first thing you can do is create a Robots Exclusion file. This is simply a text file named robots.txt that you place in your root directory. What this file does is tells robots where they can and cannot go (as well as which robots can and cannot visit your site). The drawback of using this file to combat email harvesting robots is that as a rule, the robots.txt file is based on a sort of robot honor system. That is to say that you are assuming that any robot that visits will ask for and comply with the directives that you put there. Unfortunately, harvesting robots are typically ill-mannered robots that ignore this file. For more information on Robot Exclusion, visit the Robots Exclusion Standard

A really fun solution is to use a cgi-script that punishes bad robots. What these do is to direct the robot to a page full of fake email addresses- lots and lots of them. So, what the spammer gets is a whole lot of bounced email messages, which will discourage them from visiting you again. The downside of this method is that they do also collect the valid email addresses. Also, most scripts of this type have a little disclaimer attached to them stating that they won’t be held responsible for any legal issues that arise from the use of their script- and that has to make you wonder.

There are other scripts that hide your email address from the robots, but not your site visitors. This is a great solution for smaller sites that don’t have more than one or two addresses listed. You can find both types of scripts at the CGI Resource Index

Another handy script is one that will check to see if a robot is friendly, and if not it will put it to sleep for say, 10,000 minutes. This will cause the robot to terminate the request and move on to another victim.

$number = $ENV{REMOTE_ADDR};
($a,$b,$c,$d)=split(/\./,$number);
$ipadr=pack(”C4″,$a,$b,$c,$d);
($name,$aliases,$addrtype,$length,
@addrs)=(gethostbyaddr(”$ipadr”, 2));

if ($name =~ /foo.com/i) {
$ENV{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /emailsiphon/i;
$access_denied++;
sleep(10000);
}

The last option is, in my humble opinion, the best option. If you have the ability to modify your .htaccess file, you can specify certain host agents that are not allowed to visit your site using the mod_rewrite file. This effectively blocks the offending robots from ever touching your site. You should definitely check with your hosting provider to see whether or not you can make such a modification. Most hosts will be more than happy to make the modification for you.

For those of you willing and able to make the changes yourself, just add the following to your.htaccess file:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EmailSiphon [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EmailWolf [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^ExtractorPro [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Mozilla.*NEWT [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Crescent [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^CherryPicker [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^[Ww]eb[Bb]andit [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^WebEMailExtrac.* [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^NICErsPRO [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Telesoft [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Zeus.*Webster [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Microsoft.URL [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Mozilla/3.Mozilla/2.01 [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^EmailCollector
RewriteRule ^.*$ /badspammer.html [L]

While these are all effective measures to fight the Email Snatchers, there are new robots evolving every day. It’s important to stay informed with the latest tools that the spammers are using. Some excellent sources of information can be found at:

Search Engine World
http://searchengineworld.com/engine/denied.htm

Apache Today
“Restricting Access by Host”

SpiderHunter.com
http://www.spiderhunter.com/

——————————–

© Copyright 2001 Sharon Davis. When she is not waging war on spammers, she is the owner of 2Work-At-Home.Com, Work At Home Articles.net and the Editor of the site’s monthly ezine, America’s Home. In her spare time she reminisces about what it was like to have spare time. To subscribe to her free ezine, Click Here

In fishing, trout are one of the favorite “fishing friends” of most anglers. These crafty fish are abundant anywhere. The native habitat of these crafty fish depends on the type of trout.

For brook trout, the native habitat includes the territory from Labrador westward to the Saskatchewan, while the rainbow trout is a native of the Pacific slope from Alaska to California.

On the other hand, brown trout has found its way into the waters of every state in the United States except Florida, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Texas. It has been reported in the waters of some of these states, but according to conservation officials, no authentic reports have been received. It is also found in many parts of Canada.

In trout fishing, there are some factors that need to be considered in order to have a successful catch.

1. For trout fishing, the leader should not be greased. It will not sink far enough to cause any difficulty when picking the line and lure from the water, but if it is allowed to float; it will cast a shadow on the bottom of the stream which may scare the trout.

2. The trout is one of the fishes that are usually secured through the use of the dry fly. For trout, the current as well as the pools should be fished. It may sometimes be a bit difficult to keep the fly from sinking or dragging because of the various conditions of the current, but this is a matter that the angler will have to figure out for himself.

3. It is not good practice when fishing for trout to fish directly upstream so the flies, line, and leader will float directly over fish. The fisherman should make the cast from one side of the stream so the fly will only float over the fish.

4. It is important to make the first cast the best. A feeding trout will usually strike the first lure presented if it is cast so that it will float over his private domain. The angler should never fail to fish the lower end of the pool first even if the trout are rising in the middle or upper end.

5. Trout are sometimes very moody or selective and will try the patience of any angler; hence, possibly a fly with less hackle will do the trick or it may be necessary to use a spent-wing fly or a fan wing.

Indeed, catching trout fishes can be lots of fun. The anglers just have to remember these tips in order to have a happy catch.

Download your free trout fishing tips guide now. Lots of great tips and techniques to improve your fishing. http://www.secretfishingtips.com/freeguide.html

A great way to attract more prospects and increase your business
is by using emotional appeals in your headlines. People make the
decision to buy your products or services based on psychological
triggers. They want the benefits of your products help them
achieve a certain feeling.

Whether your prospects desire to feel smarter, more successful,
happier or safer, it is your job to determine the underlying
desires that motivate your prospects. When you uncover your
prospect’s hidden desires it will be much easier to write
stimulating headlines that magnetically attract more customers.

This article reveals seven common emotional desires for most
people. I’ve also given you examples of how to use these
emotional appeals to super charge your headlines to make quick
and easy sales.

1. The desire to make more money

Moneymaking headlines are easy because everyone wants to make
more money. In these headlines, always use dollar signs and
actual dollar amounts to dramatize the effect of earning huge
sums of money. Here’s an example:

“Discover How Cheap Little Classified Ads Can Make You Up To
$10,000 A Day!” 2. The desire to save money

People work hard for their money and don’t want to waste it
unnecessarily. Notice how this type of headline appeals to that
great feeling that we all enjoy when we can keep a few extra
dollars in our pockets:

“Here’s How You Can Save 35% On Your Next Vacation”

3. The desire to save time

Time saving solutions are extremely popular in our fast-paced
world today. See how you can create a winning headline by
promising your prospects that you can show them how to get more
done faster:

“125 Ways To Get More Accomplished In Less Time”

4. The desire to avoid effort

In addition to saving time, we also want to save effort. Here’s
an example of a great headline that guarantees a simple solution
to an otherwise difficult process:

“Six Easy Steps To Making A Fortune In Mail Order”

5. The desire to gain knowledge

Instinctively, one of the greatest emotional desires in humans
is to gain knowledge. Here’s one way that you can use that
natural curiosity in your headlines to magically appeal to
customers: “Discover How To Turn Your Passions Into A Profitable
Business”

6. The desire to be more successful

This is a universal appeal because no one wants to be a failure.
This type of headline also works well with parents because in
addition to their own success they also want to help their
children to succeed. Here’s a headline that uses that angle:

“Here’s How To Help Your Children Succeed In School”

7. The desire to avoid loss

Customers need to know that they won’t take a loss if they try
out your products. Notice how this “guarantee headline” reverses
the risk and lets your potential customers know that they have
nothing to lose by doing business with you:

“Learn How To Get As Much Credit As You’ll Ever Need…100%
Guaranteed!”

When you understand what your prospects want it’s easy to write
headlines that appeal to that particular desire. Give them what
they want to help them make more money, save time, gain
knowledge or become more successful. Tap into whatever it is
that they desire most and watch your sales increase
dramatically.

Coaching is unique because it makes a special promise:
transformation. At the root of any desire for personal
development is the expectation that, every time they have an
encounter with their coach, they have some how changed from the
person they were into the person they more prefer to be.

Instead of focusing your communications, this includes all
marketing materials as well, on subject areas or benefits,
concentrate on lives — the kind of person you help create. This
isn’t merely an issue of who they can become; it includes
values, ethics, the sense of personal mission, and what people
want to accomplish within their life times. In this way, you can
reach beyond the practical considerations within the decision
making process to speak to the individual underlying core: a
person’s dreams.

Here are a few ways to make your communications more personal,
and directed towards their dreams, thus, making it more
appealing and attractive:

1. Speak and Write to Their Values

In any coaching communications, two of the most important words
you can use are “we believe.” Even the most practical personal
development desiring person believes in something. Tell
prospective clients what your coaching stands for so that they
can evaluate whether they share your coaching values, which is
the same as your personal values if you are solo.

This step helps filter that would most likely not be a match
anyway.

After all, in a country crowded with coaches, your values can be
your greatest distinction. Maybe your coaching encourages an
entrepreneurial spirit through projects or creative approaches
to familiar problems or challenges. Some people prefer the word
challenge, so I included both. Put your coaching values front
and center.

2. Connect Benefits to Ambitions

Describing what people are going to learn, such as living their
lives by their values or building a strong personal foundation
isn’t enough; you want to show how coaching helps them reach
their goals. Instead of writing mere descriptions, write stories
with the prospective coachee as the potential hero.

Tell readers how your fieldwork prepares them for real-world
experiences, how your group coaching hosts relationship
opportunities, how your teleclass sharpens them, changes their
critical-thinking, or decision-making skills.

3. Use Endorsements and Case Studies

Selecting a coach can be intimidating and overwhelming even for
the most courageous people. An endorsement, in an ad or printed
material created for sales, shows how your coaching welcomes and
works with people just like them.

Case studies is a step up from endorsements by actually
describing in some detail the transformation story — how a
person from one kind of background acted on her ambition and was
able to move forward through your program or by working with you.

Conclusion

These techniques also work well for service or products
communications if you also offer teleclasses, workshops, or
group coaching programs. Actually, not that I think of it, it
works in all personal development communications.

© Copyright 2004, Catherine Franz. All rights reserved.

FSBO (For Sale By Owner) is becoming a popular way of selling homes. Many people that choose this means to sell their home are wanting to avoid real estate commissions. Others have tried realtors and have decided that they can better sell their home or property.

If you have decided that you want to sell your home FSBO, you have to realize that you are going to have to market your home as a realtor would. This means that you have to use the same real estate marketing methods that a realtor would. This means that you will have to commit time and effort to the endeavor.

You’ve come to the conclusion that FSBO is the way to go. Your’re ready to put your home or property on the market ‘for sale by owner’. You’ve priced your home competitively and appropriately for your local market. How are you now going to market it so that you get the exposure to attract potential buyers and make the sale?

You will need to go through the same steps and marketing techiques that any real estate agent would use. Here’s the techniques I would recommend:

For Sale By Owner Signs

House signs are the first place to start. Signs can be made locally or often bought at hardware stores. I would spend the money to have your own personal sign made. It will pay off if done right.

While realtors place signs with the name of the agency and the phone number of the listing agent to contact. FSBO signs should read like the headline of a good advertisement. “Your Dream Home is Now For Sale” or “The View from Your Future Home is Spectacular”. You should catch the immediate attention of drivers-by and make them interested in seeing your home for themselves. This sign should play on the emotions of the potential buyer.

The phone number on the sign should be prominent and large enough for visitors to read from the road. It should be prefixed with a statement like: “For more information on this wonderful home, call 555-5555″. Set up a phone number that is separate from your normal phone number and specific for the purpose of selling your home.

Buy an answering machine that has caller id so that you can capture the name and phone number of potential buyers. The message should tell the caller to leave their contact information so that you can get back to them at the earliest possible moment with complete details on the property. If you have your home on the internet, you may also give them the URL while their awaiting your return call. This website can also be listed on your FSBO sign.

Classified Ads

A classified ad in your local newspaper for your FSBO property is a good investment. These are generally inexpensive and have a high return on investment for gaining leads to potential buyers. A short ad, also reading like a good headline, and run a number of times will serve you best. The same information that is on your house sign, phone number and website listing should accompany the ad.

Magazines and Community Publications

Many communities have ‘For Sale by Owner’ magazines which are placed in shopping malls, gas stations, and outside of grocery stores. These are similar to the homes magazines that real estate agencies advertise listings in.

These ‘For Sale by Owner’ publications will cost more than a classified ad but have the advantage of having photos of your home and a more detailed listing description. I would advise that your ad be different and unique from the normal listing if possible. Some publishers have set rules on what they allow.

Use these ads to emphasize the benefits of the home and not just the features of the house like the number of bedrooms and baths. Answer the question of what’s in it for the buyer. Give your special phone number so that you can collect contact information on the prospect.

Brochures

Brochures or one-page flyers are one of the best means the sale by owner has at their disposal to advertise their property. These can be put in a bruchure holder on your FSBO yard sign, on bulletin boards in local neighborhood shops and restaurants, and given to parties that espress an interest in buying your home.

Brochures are your ticket to market your home the way no real estate agent will. Don’t make your FSBO brochure look like the typical listing advertisements. Here again, think outside the box and make it more of a personal sales letter.

Emphasize the benefits of the home. The view, the convenience to shopping, schools, and workplace. Note the special features that place your home apart from others in the neighborhood. When describing the rooms, draw attention to the details like the solid oak floor or the woodwork. Write to the prospect like you are writing to a good friend.

Keep your brochure holder filled at all times. don’t get annoyed when nosey neighbors pick up your brochures. Mor often than not, your neighbors know friends that they wouldn’t mind living next door or close-by. And their friends will usually be able to afford a house in your neighborhood. Be sure to step out and tell them to pass the brochure on to someone they know.

Pass out the brochure freely to prospects that look at your house. This will insure that they will remember the home. After all, they are most likely looking at more than just your property. Color photos will aid in this.

And, don’t forget your co-workers. Give them your brochures too. After all, you find it convenient to live in your home and they know it. You work with them and you can afford to live there. Most likely, they have friends that would find a similar living arrangement pleasant. Ask them to pass on the brochure if they know someone looking for a great home.

The Internet

You can’t ignore the internet when you’re selling your own home FSBO. The internet has become an important search option for potential home buyers.

There are several internet websites that will allow you to post your FSBO listing. These will vary in price and options for your listing advertisement. Some will allow you to post photos and update information on your personal ‘open house’. You’ll find that prices range from $25 per month and up. Be sure to research your options carefully.

You can also put up your own listing website to refer prospects too. Just like with your brochure, make this website more of a personal sales letter and include a form to capture contact information for further follow-up.

Be sure to pay for your website to be hosted. For some reason, free websites don’t gain the attention from prospects that true websites do. Hosting can vary from $3.95/mo to $19.95/mo. You don’t need much from your website so go with the cheaper package as long as it will allow you to post a contact form on your site.

Open Houses

If the above suggestions don’t market your home quickly and produce a sale, you still have the option of hosting your own open house. In many localities, home sales by owner are boosted by having an open house. If you are in a hot or cold market location, this can be an excellent tool for selling your home.

Of course you will have to advertise that you’re having an open house. This can be accomplished using any of the above techniques. Some local newspapers have a special section in their classified ads just for open houses. Be sure to place a large sign on your lawn the day you are having your open house. This will give notice to others of the event as well as allow people to find your home easily.

The above suggestions should make it easier to sell your home quickly. It takes time and some money to market you ‘For Sale by Owner’ home. But you will save money on realtor commissions and have more control over your transaction. Be sure to check out the laws in your area and the forms you will need to close the deal.

Enjoy nature at its best. Matheran is a one of its kind hill station near Mumbai,India (About 100 km. away). Matheran literally means jungle on top. All vehicles (Except emergency vehicles) are banned here. The only modes of transport are on Horseback, by man-pulled rickshaw, or on foot. Every one living in cities needs this sort of change once in a while.

Situated near Monkey point it is equidistant from Dasturi (Car park) and the Market away from the crowd where there is just you and nature. Two old heritage bungalows have been taken over and remodeled and two more bungalows have been added. All bungalows face a lush green forest. Each bungalow is divided into 2 or 3 units. The place is pure vegetarian and even alcohol is prohibited.

The units have been specially modeled for 4 people and consist of a double bed, a sofa-cum-double bed, a modern toilet, a fully equipped kitchenette and a verandah. Apart from this there is a large compound, which can be used for recreational activities. Games like carom and badminton are available.

For further details you can contact the Mumbai office situated at 204 Venkatesh chambers, Prescott Road, Fort on +91-022-22070548 (11am to 5pm on Weekdays and 11am to 1pm on Saturdays) or email at cdtrust@gmail.com. The trusts rules apply.
Note - This trust is a public charitable trust.

spaces.msn.com/members/curumseydamjeearogyabhuv/

Q: What makes branding unique for business-to-business companies and is it as important for them as branding is for consumer product companies?

If your business provides products and services to other businesses, you can achieve the benefits of a strong brand identity in customer loyalty, buying preferences, and referrals to other customers. However, the relationship with your customer is far more complex than when compared with consumer product relationships. Business to business service companies must go above and beyond just satisfying the client’s transactional needs to create positive brand loyalty over time. Business to business brand loyalty has less to do with spending money to build awareness than being committed to a complete and systematic and relentless dedication to an idea that is expressed in every way that touches a customer by every employee, consistently across all communication channels, and sustained over a long period of time. Business to business companies often stumble when they fail to align all of their customer facing operational processes and people with the brand promise of the company.

Customers of business to business firms believe that every form of communication they receive from your business, and every interaction that they have with your company, of every type, all combine to form the sum of their customer service experience. Moreover, this experience endures over time, such that errors committed in the past will always remain part of the customer’s perception of their experience with the business, regardless of how well the business may be performing at present. Many companies mistakenly assume that as long as they have highly responsive customer service centers responding to customer calls and resolving issues quickly, then customers will be happy with their business overall. Recognizing the importance of delivering an experience that is consistent with your brand promise across every touch point with customers is the first step to truly differentiating your business. When all those communications channels are aligned and delivering a consistent experience and message to your customers, then you will have achieved a high level of brand efficiency. When any of these channels fails to deliver on the brand promise, then your brand efficiency decreases. When efficiency decreases, there are direct consequences in customer satisfaction and retention, willingness to buy, direct costs required to repair or rework, and in overall financial performance as vital energy in the form of human and financial capital are redirected to address the deficiencies. When brand efficiency is high, then all systems and people in the company can focus most of their energy to serving the customer better, innovating new solutions, beating the competition, and moving the bottom line up.

Q: How do business-to-business companies go about establishing their brand identity and loyalty?

Businesses commonly assume that their marketing department will communicate their brand through advertising, literature, and promotional activities. While these are important, they are just one small dimension of the totality of communication and interaction that defines the overall customer experience. Indeed, if this was the only effort to implement and communicate a brand identity and build brand loyalty, then by definition it will conflict with all the other communications systems that already exist in the company. This will contribute new sources of communication inconsistencies (“noise”), add new costs to overcome them, and reduce the return on the investment in defining and developing the brand identity in the first place. Clearly the brand promise should be defined and measured across all of the communications systems of the company, including internal reward and recognition systems to encourage employee behavior in accordance with the brand values.

For example, have you ever heard in your business that the customer was sold something that differs from your ability to deliver? These can be product/service features, business terms, implementation schedules, service levels, all apparently promised by a sales person, and yet not consistent with the current capability of the business to deliver. In business to business customer relationships, the goal is to develop a long term sustained relationship with the customer. The longer the customer is retained, generally the more profitable the relationship, and the greater the ability to continue to produce revenue from that customer. What if, at the start of the relationship, the product or service does not do what the customer expected, or the business terms or billing processes are cumbersome and prove difficult to comply with, or the service levels are not consistent with expectations, or the product was not implemented according to the schedule that was originally promised? Each one of these issues requires energy and investment by the business to overcome in order to get the customer on an acceptable long term path, albeit with slightly reset expectations. The customer has already experienced significant inconsistencies between the brand promise and the experience of that promise, before the relationship really gets under way. The cost of building brand loyalty with that customer is very high and efforts will continue to be expended over a long period of time as the company goes through extraordinary measures to restore its reputation with that customer and attempt to get the customer’s experience closer to the brand promise. Even simple failures can directly impact the reputation of the business, and the cost of overcoming them. There are many other reasons for the brand promise to be broken without any specific system, product or service experiencing any failure. The result is damaging and costly on brand loyalty, brand efficiency, and the long term cost of repairing and rebuilding the relationship, thus draining resources away from productive work and the bottom line.

Q: Can the costs of poor brand performance be measured?

The cost of poor brand performance is real and it can be measured. The elements of cost are tangible and often already measured by companies, including: rework, error correction, concessions, lost opportunities, and customer attrition. Each one of these elements increases your cost of service, selling, support, and overhead as remedies are implemented to correct them. These costs can have an exponential impact across the transmission systems: that is, each element or system that fails, or any inconsistency between them or against the brand promise tends to compound the noise in the communication and impact the perception of the customer. Why is there such a compounding effect? Remember that for business to business customers, the sum of all of their experiences and all the communications with your entire firm over time serve to create their perception of your brand. When one element disappoints the customer, it is automatically compounded by another element – even though they may seem totally unconnected from inside your company. Left unchecked, the customer’s disappointment will grow and negative perceptions will expand beyond simply the issues at hand to become a general perception of your whole business.

While the cost of negative brand efficiency may be difficult to measure precisely, the direct impact of poor performance and quality on each of the communications systems can be measured. Many businesses have sophisticated processes, software and even six sigma quality improvement programs designed to measure and improve that performance and increase profitability. These initiatives do not often measure systems across the enterprise and rarely, if ever, do they measure the effectiveness and consistency of communication and performance of all of these systems with the intended brand strategy of the business. Managing each one of those issues in isolation and not in a holistic manner aligned with the brand strategy will result in an exponential drain on energy and resources required to deliver sustained profitable growth.

Q: In addition to understanding the cost of poor execution, how can companies assess the value of their brand?

The Service-Profit Chain developed by Heskett, Sasser and Schlesinger (1997) from Harvard Business School establishes relationships between profitability, customer loyalty, and employee satisfaction, loyalty, and productivity. The Service-Profit Chain is made up several key linkages: profit and growth are stimulated primarily by customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is a direct result of customer satisfaction. Satisfaction is greatly influenced by the value of service provided to customers. Satisfied, loyal, and productive employees create value. Employee satisfaction, in turn, results primarily from high quality support services and policies that enable employees to deliver results to customers. Let’s say that you have high quality support services and polices, and your employee satisfaction surveys suggest your employees are happy. Does that mean your customers are in fact experiencing results that match or exceed you brand promise? Do satisfactory results really help you accomplish your goals of being the leader in your industry? What if the predominant culture of your employee base demonstrates a set of values that are not consistent with the values of your brand promise? What if different parts of your employee population that come into contact with customers have quite different cultures and values? Does your sales force demonstrate the same behaviors and in the same manner and style as your customer service organization? Such inconsistent behaviors between employee groups, and between employees and the brand promise, create disjointed experiences for customers who will find that they are constantly adjusting to your company’s different styles, behaviors, standards of performance, and promises. The customer will quickly conclude they don’t know what you stand for, and they won’t know how to describe their experience with you – perhaps other than “clumsy”. This makes it very difficult to develop a sense of affinity and loyalty with your company. While the Service-Profit Chain model provides an essential foundation to assure that your employees are delivering results to customers, a focus simply on employee support services and policies will not result in employees delighting the customer and delivering on your brand promise. You need a defined employee culture, measurements, and reward and recognition system that aligns behaviors consistent with the brand promise of your business. This strong link and consistent behaviors will strengthen the bond of loyalty with your customers, lower the cost of support service, and accelerate brand efficiency and sustained profitability.

In financial terms, the value of a brand can be a significant component of the value of the company. The price paid for acquired businesses is frequently substantially higher than the appraised value determined from the tangible assets of the company. According to a study in 1995: “the average market value of all American-based publicly traded companies was 70% greater than their replacement cost (e.g., their tangible net asset value.)” 1

Assessments of the actual brand value of a business to business services company should include the internal business processes and communications systems to determine how effectively the various functions and people are aligned to deliver performance consistent with the brand promise of the company. Unrealistic prices can be paid for brand value that may be more tied to market awareness and market share, than any real capability of the company to underpin its brand equity with real sustained performance. Brand value should be discounted by elements that fail to deliver effectively, or where significant inconsistencies exist between the company and its customers’ expectations for the future.

Consider the case of Philip Morris: “In 1989, Philip Morris paid $12.9 billion for Kraft, six times its net asset value. According to Philip Morris CEO Hamish Maxwell, his company needed a portfolio of brands that had strong brand loyalty [i.e., customer relationships] that could be leveraged to enable the tobacco company to diversify [i.e., financial relationships], especially in the retail food industry [i.e., trade relationships].”2 Philip Morris paid billions for a set of relationships and the expectations that those relationships would enable Philip Morris to conduct business in entirely new ways in the future.

In addition to significantly affecting the purchase price of a company, the value of the brand and brand equity directly affects stock price of the company. A Cap Gemini Ernst & Young report issued in 2000 concluded “brand power can account for 5 to 7 percent of the change in a company’s stock price.” 3 A study of 220 companies identified that corporate brand image could be quantified with the following components:

Advertising spending 30%

Size of company 23%

Low dividend 10%

Earnings volatility 7%

Stock price growth 8%

Other factors* 22%

*(including [other marketing components such as] events and publicity, industry affiliation, product categories, message quality, etc.)4 Thus 52% of the factors influencing the brand image are those associated with ensuring that your brand message and promise are effectively defined and articulated through all the transmission systems in your company.

Through this brief analysis we can easily conclude that effectively developing and executing a comprehensive company-wide brand strategy will contribute directly to the value of the company. The steps that can be taken to accomplish this are defined and uniquely adaptable to any business. The results will be measured in the improved performance of every function of the company, leading to improved sustained profitable growth and continuing growth in stock equity.

1,2 Tom Duncan, Driving Brand Value, pg. 4.

3 “Name Brand Calculus or Imaginary Numbers?” US Banker, Volume 113, Number 6, Page 26, June 2003.

4 Ad Value, Leslie Butterfield, ed., Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, 2003, “How advertising impacts on share price,” James Gregory, pgs. 17-25.

Patrick Smyth is a partner with OneAccord LLC, a firm that specializes in accelerating revenue in a sustained and repeatable way for small to medium size companies. Patrick has over 25 years experience in information technology & services, business-to-business marketing leadership, and product management. His talents include aligning company and product branding & positioning, building highly effective marketing processes & teams, and customer experience management to optimize sales & marketing productivity and develop profitable, long term customer relationships.
Contact: patrick.smyth@oneaccordcorp.com

Has this ever happened to you?

You’ve been watching an auction like a hawk, and your excited that you are one of the only bidders. You know you can sell this product on and that it will make you good money.

However, in the final half hour your auction gets swamped with bidders and you come to the sickening realisation that you have completely wasted your time.

Well, you’ll need to be a lot sharper than this when looking for a good deal. To be an effective Bargain Hunter, you’ll need to take these tips on board:

(1) Don’t get Emotionally Attached to One Auction

I admit that I’ve been affected by this disease …it’s quite common since most of us are very competitive, and hate to lose. To get your bargain you should analyse the deal
And make a quick decision on how much you are willing to pay.

It is impossible to win every bid, and it is essential to bid on as many as you can to stack the odds in your favour. You can use bidding software that will bid for you automatically and at the date and time of your choosing.

An effective Bargain Hunter spends most of his or her time finding good deals, and not getting emotionally
Attached to a deal that could fall through.

(2) Specialise in One Product Category … Initially.

This is essential.

Why?

Because if you specialise then you will know the products that you can buy for a steal and then sell on for a killing.
For example, if you concentrate on Digital Equipment, you may another sub-category of products that is completely off the radar of your competition, and that you can pick up at great prices.

Contrast this with a Bargain Hunter who jumps from one product category to another, never developing the depth of knowledge required to buy under valued products.

Once, and only once you know a category like the back of your hand should you …

(3) Research Other Product Areas of Interest

Now I know this may sound contradictory, but it isn’t. Follow step two first, and then do a little part time sleuthing. Spend and hour or two doing a bit of market research to find a good niche.

There are third party solutions provided by Amdale, Hammertap, and Terrapeak that you can use. Then, step by step, you can master a few categories and find much better deals. Over time it is good to have your fingers in many pies, because if one of your product specialties falls flat, you have another to back it up.

In conclusion, a Bargain Hunter should focus attention on one or two product areas. Bid on as many products as possible; use the law of averages in your favour - eventually you will succeed. Then expand in other catagories to make even more money, and increase your security.

David Jason helps people buy smarter on Ebay. To see more Articles like this then visit Bargain Hunter