Dodo Loves Marketing

Having thought through the career possibilities and assessed the advice given by the resource people you consulted, it is time to consider the market—what jobs are available to you? Depending upon the type of work you do, or would prefer to do, there may be a specialised employment service available to help. For example, in most cities there will be agencies specialising in secretarial and receptionist services, computer personnel, and technical sales people, to name but a few. For managerial positions, management consultants can be approached. Generally, the fees for placing an applicant are paid by the employer, but there might be some service fees payable by the applicant. ..more

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Most people who have become disenchanted with their job consider the possibility of starting their own business. There are certain definite appeals to being your own boss—no-one to look over your shoulder, time at work determined by you, and financial rewards contingent upon your work input.

While the picture may look very rosy and alluring, there are certain pitfalls as well. You are solely responsible for the progress of the business and that will often mean longer hours and higher pressure. If the business involves employing others, there will be stresses and strains in managing your staff. Instead of being the applicant with hat in hand, you will be the boss making the hiring and firing decisions, a position of considerable responsibility and stress. ..more

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11. Test the product thoroughly prior to launch

Your new product won’t get off the ground unless you test it before the launch. Customers hate being guinea pigs and will start looking elsewhere for supplies, as well as returning faulty goods for recompense.

12. Plan the termination of a product’s lifespan

If a new product is intended to replace an existing one, it is essential to time the introduction of the new product so as to allow stocks of the existing product to be sold first. Be careful not to ‘land’ stocks of old models on a valued customer’s lap, as he will resent being overstocked and be unable to take up stocks of the new model. Try to find a market that will willingly accept the old models so that all your valued customers can be involved to the full in the new product launch. ..more

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Managers enjoy being involved in success and so will be full of enthusiasm as sales of a new product start to take off. Expansion and sales development from an increased range of products or a wider geographical area will not find enthusiasm or hard work wanting.

But how do we foresee the end of a product’s lifespan? Be prepared for it with a policy for new products and product improvements.

1. Prepare a product improvement plan

If your present products are selling well you cannot be blamed for feeling satisfied. However, your competitors are watching you with envy and will not have been idle. They are probably working at this very moment on a product with a few advantageous features, so don’t ever think that your current product design is the ultimate. There will be changes in style, custom, fashion, new technology etc. Ensure that your programme of product improvement keeps you ahead. ..more

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A difficulty in discriminating between our conditioned disempowering conscience and our true empowering conscience, is that what is seemingly right for one particular culture may be viewed as wrong by another. For example, one culture may choose to receive payment from the person accused of causing the death of a family member as appropriate compensation, but this custom of accepting ‘blood money’ could be considered immoral by another culture. Because of different cultural views, therefore, it is important to differentiate between morality and conscience. ..more

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Often when we decide we want something, we want it now, and when we do not get it straight away, we feel that life is unfair, that we have been treated unjustly, even cheated. Sometimes we convince ourselves that it is because others, and even forces beyond us, do not want us to have what we want. In choosing to believe that we have been singled out, we may rationalise that we must do unto others before they do unto us, or, at the very least, get in first before others, rather than adhere to the Golden Rule of treating others as we would wish to be treated. In taking things personally, we convince ourselves that the acquisition of our desires is at the mercy of the inquisition by others. ..more

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The only way to gain and keep the goodwill and high esteem of the people we work and live with is to deserve it. Each of us will eventually be recognised for what we are because of our motives, not for what we try to be through our moves. Having the right motives will always win over making the right moves, yet, often prompted by personal ambition, we focus on gaining quick success by learning artful techniques. In the long run, no technique, no matter how clever, can conceal the motives a person has in his or her heart.

Many businesses focus on making all the right moves with the understandable motivation of greater return. Indeed, the majority of employment training is on specific competency techniques to ensure that the right moves are practised. But the motives behind practising the right moves are not always in harmony with what the business purports to be in business for. ..more

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To have the virtue of patience, it is important to acknowledge obstacles as opportunities to strengthen you, not as indications of failure. In attempting to patiently let go of an outcome, there will be a tendency to view obstacles that begin to appear as evidence that what you are embarking upon is not working. The ego will always use such obstacles as proof to deny the existence of your connectedness to a universal energy. In doing so it attempts to regain its influence over you, which your new actions of patience and detachment are causing it to lose. ..more

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Herons are fortunate in their ability to be patient in fishing for what they want. For his part, Man is unique in placing time constraints on the results that he wants in life and, in so doing, becomes restless rather than still. It is of course far easier to be patient for something when the outcome of it is certain, because in certainty there is less room for anxiety.

There is a direct correlation between patience and certainty as there is between impatience and doubt. The more impatient you are for something to go the way you want, the more you begin to question whether it will. Say, for example, you begin to question an intuitive idea that you were once certain was right. ..more

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We must seek to cultivate infinite patience through being certain about our outcomes, while simultaneously being unconcerned as to when and how. This involves understanding our relationships with everything around us. In the same way that a drop of water taken from the ocean has the characteristics of its source, so each of us are actually part of an Infinite Universal Spirit.

Throughout the ages numerous cultures have referred to the Spiritual Force that dwells in everything. ..more

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So what becomes of our individual privacy and anonymity in a world where there is an Internet-ready device at every turn we make. Aren’t we being bombarded with enough information and advertising as it is? Are car manufacturers going to “eavesdrop” on our weekend getaways? And who’s going to know that I rode an elevator in Chicago last Thursday afternoon? Is “somebody out there” going to know every TV show-watch? Are we marching toward a privacy nightmare or a service and convenience dream? What is going to keep the car manufacturer from selling your whereabouts to other vendors, or even letting it fall into the hands of sophisticated robbers who could drop by your house while you’re spending the weekend in the mountains? ..more

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“Have you heard this one …”

As women began to move up in the workplace, certain management consultants propagated the view that, along with wearing pin-striped suits and ties, women should drink, swear and share locker-room jokes with the boys. Fortunately women no longer feel that they have to become male clones to succeed.

No-one, either male or female, should feel obliged to listen to off- colour, offensive jokes or foul language in the workplace or at work- related social gatherings. If possible, vote with your feet. Leave the room or join another group of people. ..more

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What do women want from work anyway? The same advantages that men seek — opportunity, responsibility and respect.

But sexist attitudes assume that a woman’s expectations in the workplace differ from those of the average man. Natasha Josefowitz, author of Paths to power, gives us a tongue-in-cheek tabulation of common His/Her attitudes. Recognize them?

‘His’ and ‘Her’ attitudes are rooted in the values that we subscribe to. They often manifest quite spontaneously in things we say and do as the above comments suggest. The casual statement, the gesture or look and the opinion we offer all betray sexist attitudes. ..more

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“Those women talk too much.”

Women are reputed to be verbose in meetings. They are said to talk too much, become emotional and not get to the point. It is vital for your career development to lay this ghost to rest.

Don’t be unnaturally timid or quiet, but learn to understand the mechanics of meetings. Recognise the different roles that people play during meetings.

Say your say in a meaningful way. By taking my meetings seriously, doing my pre-meeting homework thoroughly and devoting attention to the basics of clear communication, I take great delight in disproving this particular myth.

Master the art of meetings and your verbal comments will actually be sought after. ..more

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Women bring their own particular strengths to any meeting. I have found that women are particularly sensitive to interpersonal relationships and emotional undercurrents in meetings.

Feminine intuition is alert to those hidden agendas, secret coalitions and potential conflict situations. We read non-verbal messages accurately, the raised eyebrow or the sideways glance, especially when they are sent by aggressors or allies! ..more

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