No matter how hot and humid it may get, workers can keep their cool by wearing work clothing made with the latest scientifically treated fabrics designed to more evenly regulate their body temperatures on a year-round basis.
"These uniforms are made with fabrics that literally wick perspiration away from the skin so moisture evaporates quickly," says Robert Isaacson, Director of Marketing for UniFirst Corporation, a leading supplier of uniforms and work apparel throughout the U.S. and Canada. "And that's a critical factor when it comes to feeling cooler in hotter weather, as perspiration trapped on the skin suppresses its ability to 'breathe,' making workers feel hotter."
Isaacson points out that those same comfort features continue even when outside thermometers dip. "When these same fabrics are worn during colder weather, they also wick 'chilly' moisture away, which helps their wearers remain warm."
Major uniform suppliers and manufacturers, such as UniFirst, have countless options when choosing fabrics to meet the garment needs of today's workforce. But specially treated polyesters, used in combination with cotton, have become the preferred choice for tens of millions of uniform wearers because of the overall comfort features and the on-the-job durability they provide.
"Many polyesters are now made from microfibers that are 'spun' for a softer touch," Isaacson says. "So when you combine spun polyester with cotton, you take clothing's softness level up a notch. Add in the special wicking treatments and polyester's ability to resist wrinkling, soiling and abrasions, and you truly have one of the 'coolest' summertime uniforms or, for that matter, one of the 'hottest' ones you can find during colder weather."
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Corporate Concierge Services Offer Significant Benefits To Property Managers, Leasing Agents,Tenants
Are you trying to present your commercial property for lease or sale in its best light so you can obtain the best price? Are you trying to reduce tenant turnover? Are you trying to cut costs while improving quality of service and tenant satisfaction? There is now one easy and effective method that would support better customer service, streamline productivity, and improve your financial bottom line. Sounds like the impossible dream, but it’s not.
To remain successful in today’s competitive real estate market, owner and property managers should consider what industry leaders are already instituting at their sites: corporate concierge services. Offering tenant amenities is rapidly becoming the “it-factor” that makes all the difference.
In order for you to attract and retain quality tenants, you need to remain competitive in the real estate industry. Large property owners and property managers are becoming ever more consistently challenged to offer amenities that create a better environment for their tenants. High-rise apartment buildings, condos, and commercial office suites have recently begun to realize the benefits of corporate concierge services.
Partnering with a concierge service provider offers a means by which your commercial properties can offer a diverse array of services to simplify their tenants’ lives and improve company assets while streamlining their business tasks. Whether it be the addition of dry cleaning services, procuring event tickets, automobile assistance, property maintenance, or beyond, implementing a comprehensive and attractive concierge package ensures that your tenants can conveniently access quality service, hassle-free, “one-stop support” easily and quickly.
Tenants are impressed when they can immediately reach a ‘live’ person who will listen and work with them towards remedying their complaints or desires. The Tenant Loyalty division of a concierge service provider offers phone coverage to field any tenant complaints and work towards their resolution. Imagine having your tenant issues resolved quickly while increasing tenant satisfaction with rapid response, research, and solution. Utilizing a concierge service equates to happier tenants and, thus, more consistent revenue and even increased profits for your business. Further, it removes many of the daily headaches that owners and managers face so they can focus on their core business activities.
Concierge services offer significant benefits to all parties involved!
• Provision, research, and coordination of subcontractors and vendors services, security, janitorial details (including specialized room cleaning, catering and functions management, event scheduling, dry cleaning services, ticket procurement (single or group), car services, maintenance and minor repair issues, and more.
• Lower overhead with reduced personnel training and employee hours.
• Handling and tracking of relevant services. From brainstorming to conception of concierge plan through to budgeting, implementing, tracking, and verification, we work with you from start to finish and everything in between to best suit the needs of your site. There is no longer a need for you to detract your focus from core business. If your needs change, we research options and present an analysis for you. You choose the options that best suit your situation; we take care of the rest.
• Improved response time for tenant contact and fulfillment of requests.
• Simplified accounting: one concierge service, one point of contact, one bill. We will track invoices and payments for you. Further, a partnership with our concierge service means that we provide the professional independent contractors. We reimburse them, i.e. no need to process diverse payroll each week.
• Reduced risk: our independent contractors work for us. No outlay for employee health insurance and benefits. No more worries with regard to scheduling, unemployment, or workers compensation issues for you.
Onsite or off-site concierge services offers a comprehensive solution - benefits that will place and keep you far above and beyond your competitors, whether you are owners or managers of commercial high-end apartments, condominium complexes, or commercial office buildings. Get your market edge and begin to improve your property and bottom line now.
To remain successful in today’s competitive real estate market, owner and property managers should consider what industry leaders are already instituting at their sites: corporate concierge services. Offering tenant amenities is rapidly becoming the “it-factor” that makes all the difference.
In order for you to attract and retain quality tenants, you need to remain competitive in the real estate industry. Large property owners and property managers are becoming ever more consistently challenged to offer amenities that create a better environment for their tenants. High-rise apartment buildings, condos, and commercial office suites have recently begun to realize the benefits of corporate concierge services.
Partnering with a concierge service provider offers a means by which your commercial properties can offer a diverse array of services to simplify their tenants’ lives and improve company assets while streamlining their business tasks. Whether it be the addition of dry cleaning services, procuring event tickets, automobile assistance, property maintenance, or beyond, implementing a comprehensive and attractive concierge package ensures that your tenants can conveniently access quality service, hassle-free, “one-stop support” easily and quickly.
Tenants are impressed when they can immediately reach a ‘live’ person who will listen and work with them towards remedying their complaints or desires. The Tenant Loyalty division of a concierge service provider offers phone coverage to field any tenant complaints and work towards their resolution. Imagine having your tenant issues resolved quickly while increasing tenant satisfaction with rapid response, research, and solution. Utilizing a concierge service equates to happier tenants and, thus, more consistent revenue and even increased profits for your business. Further, it removes many of the daily headaches that owners and managers face so they can focus on their core business activities.
Concierge services offer significant benefits to all parties involved!
• Provision, research, and coordination of subcontractors and vendors services, security, janitorial details (including specialized room cleaning, catering and functions management, event scheduling, dry cleaning services, ticket procurement (single or group), car services, maintenance and minor repair issues, and more.
• Lower overhead with reduced personnel training and employee hours.
• Handling and tracking of relevant services. From brainstorming to conception of concierge plan through to budgeting, implementing, tracking, and verification, we work with you from start to finish and everything in between to best suit the needs of your site. There is no longer a need for you to detract your focus from core business. If your needs change, we research options and present an analysis for you. You choose the options that best suit your situation; we take care of the rest.
• Improved response time for tenant contact and fulfillment of requests.
• Simplified accounting: one concierge service, one point of contact, one bill. We will track invoices and payments for you. Further, a partnership with our concierge service means that we provide the professional independent contractors. We reimburse them, i.e. no need to process diverse payroll each week.
• Reduced risk: our independent contractors work for us. No outlay for employee health insurance and benefits. No more worries with regard to scheduling, unemployment, or workers compensation issues for you.
Onsite or off-site concierge services offers a comprehensive solution - benefits that will place and keep you far above and beyond your competitors, whether you are owners or managers of commercial high-end apartments, condominium complexes, or commercial office buildings. Get your market edge and begin to improve your property and bottom line now.
Friday, 12 March 2010
Convert Your Car To Burn Water + Gasoline = Double Your Mileage!
With over 20,000 satisfied customers worldwide and 900 registered manufacturers, Water4Gas is quickly becoming the web's standard for DIY technology to save fuel using WATER!
Water4Gas is running a limited-time Free Gift at:http://smalur.com/j
They are offering a 7-day e-mail course so you can learn this in your spare time, daily. This course is normally priced at $49.95 but FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY are giving it away FREE to a limited number of students. (Deadline unknown, may disappear any moment.)
You do NOT have to buy anything or answer any questions!!!I just want you to have this information. Each lesson is easy and short. In about 10 minutes a day you will discover the simplicity and power of using water to clean emissions and save tons of fuel in your car or truck.
Also in this course: ways to MAKE MONEY from this!
If you've been searching for a unique way to SAVE $$$ ON FUEL, grab this f'ree deal - perfect for this time of rising gas costs:
http://smalur.com/j
Happy Mileage!
0ZZIE
Water4Gas is running a limited-time Free Gift at:http://smalur.com/j
They are offering a 7-day e-mail course so you can learn this in your spare time, daily. This course is normally priced at $49.95 but FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY are giving it away FREE to a limited number of students. (Deadline unknown, may disappear any moment.)
You do NOT have to buy anything or answer any questions!!!I just want you to have this information. Each lesson is easy and short. In about 10 minutes a day you will discover the simplicity and power of using water to clean emissions and save tons of fuel in your car or truck.
Also in this course: ways to MAKE MONEY from this!
If you've been searching for a unique way to SAVE $$$ ON FUEL, grab this f'ree deal - perfect for this time of rising gas costs:
http://smalur.com/j
Happy Mileage!
0ZZIE
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Convert leads into clients and boost your sales
A major part of keeping profitable and growing your business is maintaining a focus on business development. Even when you've got the right mix of work, clients and employees you should be looking for new sales leads. Establish a process that ensures your existing customers don't get neglected while you manage new business opportunities in a cost- and time-effective manner.
1. Generate sales leads. Identify the types of companies you want to work with and a realistic number of companies you want to target over a given period of time. For example: An accountant with experience in the marketing industry might decide to target five opportunities per month focussed on marketing consultancies.
Finding potential clients and identifying new opportunities can be done through networking events, tenders listed in newspapers and industry magazines and headlines in newspapers about new projects and industry seminars. Keep an eye on your industry and stay aware of new developments.
Track the companies you approach in a database (you could use Microsoft Office Excel or Access). Tracking should cover the obvious things — company contact details — as well as details of what was discussed, potential work, actions and more.
2. Qualify the leads. Once you have companies identified, review it to ensure they are realistic opportunities. Some areas to think about include:
4. Show them what you're made of. Start to reach your qualified opportunities by showcasing your company's products. Send them a brochure or a copy of any newsletters you produce and invite them to join; show off examples of your work; highlight relevant media articles. However, if you're using e-mail, avoid being overly intrusive or they may regard it as spam.
Develop standard template letters in Word to send to potential clients to accompany your credentials/brochures. Link to your database (Excel, Access or Outlook) when merging the letters and envelopes to ensure you don't have to re-enter details.
There is no specified time for this courting, so be patient. It could be six months before anything comes to fruition.
5. Set a meeting time. So you're in the door. Now you need to sell yourself. Tailor the meeting to suit the way you operate as a business. It could be a formal PowerPoint presentation or a discussion over coffee. You may have no choice for the style of the meeting but make sure you are comfortable and well prepared. During the meeting be sure to demonstrate the knowledge you have developed in the previous stages.
6. Follow up. You've presented your capabilities and ideas. Don't stop there. Follow up is essential. This is a major part of the process and should be taken as seriously as the other steps. You'll probably be able to build on ideas from the meeting, or you might find an interesting/relevant article or statistics you could send to re-open discussion. Even if you don't have anything to send, thank them for the opportunity.
1. Generate sales leads. Identify the types of companies you want to work with and a realistic number of companies you want to target over a given period of time. For example: An accountant with experience in the marketing industry might decide to target five opportunities per month focussed on marketing consultancies.
Finding potential clients and identifying new opportunities can be done through networking events, tenders listed in newspapers and industry magazines and headlines in newspapers about new projects and industry seminars. Keep an eye on your industry and stay aware of new developments.
Track the companies you approach in a database (you could use Microsoft Office Excel or Access). Tracking should cover the obvious things — company contact details — as well as details of what was discussed, potential work, actions and more.
2. Qualify the leads. Once you have companies identified, review it to ensure they are realistic opportunities. Some areas to think about include:
- Do you have the right contacts to get started?
- Do you have the right services to offer them?
- How can their website help you understand them better?
- Do you have any conflicts of interest in pursuing this company?
- Does this client have growth potential or would it be a quick job?
- Who makes the decisions? How can you reach them?
4. Show them what you're made of. Start to reach your qualified opportunities by showcasing your company's products. Send them a brochure or a copy of any newsletters you produce and invite them to join; show off examples of your work; highlight relevant media articles. However, if you're using e-mail, avoid being overly intrusive or they may regard it as spam.
Develop standard template letters in Word to send to potential clients to accompany your credentials/brochures. Link to your database (Excel, Access or Outlook) when merging the letters and envelopes to ensure you don't have to re-enter details.
There is no specified time for this courting, so be patient. It could be six months before anything comes to fruition.
5. Set a meeting time. So you're in the door. Now you need to sell yourself. Tailor the meeting to suit the way you operate as a business. It could be a formal PowerPoint presentation or a discussion over coffee. You may have no choice for the style of the meeting but make sure you are comfortable and well prepared. During the meeting be sure to demonstrate the knowledge you have developed in the previous stages.
6. Follow up. You've presented your capabilities and ideas. Don't stop there. Follow up is essential. This is a major part of the process and should be taken as seriously as the other steps. You'll probably be able to build on ideas from the meeting, or you might find an interesting/relevant article or statistics you could send to re-open discussion. Even if you don't have anything to send, thank them for the opportunity.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Contract Cleaners – Travel To Expand
The vast majority of Contract Cleaning Companies are small ‘one-man band’ outfits that provide basic cleaning to a limited number of clients within a relatively restricted area. This is fine unless you want to make real money and continue growing and expanding. If you restrict yourself to a small locality and operate alone then you have a limited number of potential customers. If you want to be out the front of the competition and challenging the big players in the cleaning business then you must be prepared to widen your horizons.
Much of your competition will be these small cleaning companies who because they have limited overheads will be able to undercut you. However by careful marketing you can put yourself ahead of these and get yourself recognised before them. How to market yourself successfully has been covered in previous articles. Having beaten off the competition by your carefully planned marketing strategy you will still restrict your growth potential if you do not widen your area of coverage.
A planned well managed expansion is difficult to achieve within the cleaning business. Once you start to advertise your services outside of your immediate area you have no idea what the response will be and the golden rule is to never turn down work because that potential customer will never ever return to you if you do turn them away. Consequently you must accept most of the work that comes in and worry about how you might manage it once you have got it.
In the initial period of expansion out of your area there will obviously be a great deal of travelling and extra work and you will imagine that there are just not enough hours in the day to cope with all the work you have taken on. If you are determined to achieve then you will and once you have a few contracts established in another locality you can always employ others to look after them. It is only that initial hurdle that you must overcome. Having done it in one or two places you can then continue to expand as far as your vision will take you. This is the one big problem with franchising because as a franchisee you cannot expand outside of your designated area so you will always be restricted. Think big, act big and you will make big things happen. Think small, be restrictive and small things will happen and you will never escape from this ‘smallness’.
Much of your competition will be these small cleaning companies who because they have limited overheads will be able to undercut you. However by careful marketing you can put yourself ahead of these and get yourself recognised before them. How to market yourself successfully has been covered in previous articles. Having beaten off the competition by your carefully planned marketing strategy you will still restrict your growth potential if you do not widen your area of coverage.
A planned well managed expansion is difficult to achieve within the cleaning business. Once you start to advertise your services outside of your immediate area you have no idea what the response will be and the golden rule is to never turn down work because that potential customer will never ever return to you if you do turn them away. Consequently you must accept most of the work that comes in and worry about how you might manage it once you have got it.
In the initial period of expansion out of your area there will obviously be a great deal of travelling and extra work and you will imagine that there are just not enough hours in the day to cope with all the work you have taken on. If you are determined to achieve then you will and once you have a few contracts established in another locality you can always employ others to look after them. It is only that initial hurdle that you must overcome. Having done it in one or two places you can then continue to expand as far as your vision will take you. This is the one big problem with franchising because as a franchisee you cannot expand outside of your designated area so you will always be restricted. Think big, act big and you will make big things happen. Think small, be restrictive and small things will happen and you will never escape from this ‘smallness’.
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Container Sales Involves More Than Container Sales
What comes to your mind when you hear the term container sales? Probably you think of a shop stacked with all kinds of containers like pet bottles, paper cartons, tin cans, and all the other containers you store stuff in. In this article, however, we discuss another type of container, the shipping container carried by large trailers that you see on the road and at dockyards.
These containers come in numerous varieties. There are the plain 20'x8'x8.5', 40'x8'x8.5' and 45'x8'x9.5' popular sizes, and half sizes and custom sizes. There are dry van containers used to pack cartons, sacks, bales, etc; reefer containers that have climate control facilities; bulktainers used to ship bulk materials or heavy machinery; tank containers used to pack liquids and dangerous stuff; roll-on containers into which difficult-to-handle cargo can be rolled in and out; and so on.
The abovementioned items are all shipping containers that require certification under the Convention for Safe Containers (CSC) as standardized by International Maritime Organization (IMO). This certification testifies to the suitability of the containers for "continued safe handling and transportability in the commercial intermodal transport environment".
Container sellers can sell you new or used containers with CSC certification. But container sales are not restricted to shipping containers. We look at some of the offerings you will find at container sales yards.
Storage Containers
These are containers that might have been retired from shipping functions. They could also be from the large quantities of empty containers that tend to accumulate at places where inward flow of containers always exceed outward flow. This happens because there are more imports than exports, and it is uneconomic to ship empty containers back.
Such surplus containers are excellent for storage of household articles, boats, equipment, or anything else you want to store. Self-storage facilities use containers extensively as they offer closed spaces that can be under the lock and key of the hirer.
Container Houses, Offices and Shops
Container sales companies typically offer remodeled containers for various purposes. One major use is as temporary or longer-term living accommodation. The containers are fitted out inside to provide livable interiors with windows and doors, and living facilities like fold up beds and furniture, kitchen units, toilets and storage shelves. Power can be made available through solar panels and equipment.
Instead of fitting out for living accommodation, the containers can also be fitted out as offices, canteens, market stalls or for other similar functions. It is also possible to incorporate a multi-level structure, either by having smaller levels or by stacking containers over one another.
One major advantage of container houses, offices and shops is their mobility. They can be easily moved around using trucks with container handling equipment. You can thus move the living quarters to different worksites; your market stalls to different markets or entertainment venues, and so on.
We have seen only a sampling of how containers can be modified and converted for different kinds of uses. The possibilities are huge, and if you want any kind of structure that can be easily moved around, or accommodated in a compact space, container modification could be your answer.
Container sales thus involve much more than selling containers.
These containers come in numerous varieties. There are the plain 20'x8'x8.5', 40'x8'x8.5' and 45'x8'x9.5' popular sizes, and half sizes and custom sizes. There are dry van containers used to pack cartons, sacks, bales, etc; reefer containers that have climate control facilities; bulktainers used to ship bulk materials or heavy machinery; tank containers used to pack liquids and dangerous stuff; roll-on containers into which difficult-to-handle cargo can be rolled in and out; and so on.
The abovementioned items are all shipping containers that require certification under the Convention for Safe Containers (CSC) as standardized by International Maritime Organization (IMO). This certification testifies to the suitability of the containers for "continued safe handling and transportability in the commercial intermodal transport environment".
Container sellers can sell you new or used containers with CSC certification. But container sales are not restricted to shipping containers. We look at some of the offerings you will find at container sales yards.
Storage Containers
These are containers that might have been retired from shipping functions. They could also be from the large quantities of empty containers that tend to accumulate at places where inward flow of containers always exceed outward flow. This happens because there are more imports than exports, and it is uneconomic to ship empty containers back.
Such surplus containers are excellent for storage of household articles, boats, equipment, or anything else you want to store. Self-storage facilities use containers extensively as they offer closed spaces that can be under the lock and key of the hirer.
Container Houses, Offices and Shops
Container sales companies typically offer remodeled containers for various purposes. One major use is as temporary or longer-term living accommodation. The containers are fitted out inside to provide livable interiors with windows and doors, and living facilities like fold up beds and furniture, kitchen units, toilets and storage shelves. Power can be made available through solar panels and equipment.
Instead of fitting out for living accommodation, the containers can also be fitted out as offices, canteens, market stalls or for other similar functions. It is also possible to incorporate a multi-level structure, either by having smaller levels or by stacking containers over one another.
One major advantage of container houses, offices and shops is their mobility. They can be easily moved around using trucks with container handling equipment. You can thus move the living quarters to different worksites; your market stalls to different markets or entertainment venues, and so on.
We have seen only a sampling of how containers can be modified and converted for different kinds of uses. The possibilities are huge, and if you want any kind of structure that can be easily moved around, or accommodated in a compact space, container modification could be your answer.
Container sales thus involve much more than selling containers.
Monday, 8 March 2010
Consultants Help Fine Tune Your Business Performance
A consultant is a professional who provides expert advice in a particular area of expertise such as IT, management, marketing, or finance etc. Consultants identify companies' marketing or business needs, and they help companies improve their performance and profitability by analyzing existing business problems and developing future strategies. They help determine the most effective marketing and business solutions to your business, as well as the best ways to execute these solutions for the betterment of your business. Consultants generally use formal methodologies to analyze problems or to suggest better ways of completing business tasks. Consultants help execute your business plan and strategies, allowing you to focus on other important business issues and business meetings.
Management and business consulting grew rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s with industry growth rates of 20%. Consulting is highly cyclical and is sensitive to general economic conditions. The consulting industry declined between 2001 to 2003, but has been experiencing some growth since.
Nowadays there are three major types of consulting firms. One type is the larger consulting firm that offers a wide variety of consulting services, ranging from IT consulting to management consulting. Another type is the established management and strategic consulting firms that focus mainly on management consulting that covers any specific industry. Yet another type is the smaller boutique consulting firms with consulting focus and expertise on specific industries or technologies.
The more established consulting firms today include Arthur D. Little, a general management consulting firm; Booz Allen Hamilton was the first consulting firm to serve clients in both the government and the industry; McKinsey & Company, was one of the first pure management consulting firm and currently leads the field. It was also one of the first consulting firms to hire graduates of top MBA schools rather than hiring experienced industry personnel. Boston Consulting Group brought an analytical approach to the study of strategy and management. Bain & Company introduced its focus on shareholder wealth. Traditional accounting companies such as Arthur Andersen and global IT services firms such as IBM also set up consulting departments.
Businesses or companies can engage a business or management consulting firm or an individual business consultant who will draw up suitable business plans and strategies and implement them. Consultants are generally well paid with some business consultants charging $150 per hour, and sometimes even as high as $2,000 per day for their services.
Management and business consulting grew rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s with industry growth rates of 20%. Consulting is highly cyclical and is sensitive to general economic conditions. The consulting industry declined between 2001 to 2003, but has been experiencing some growth since.
Nowadays there are three major types of consulting firms. One type is the larger consulting firm that offers a wide variety of consulting services, ranging from IT consulting to management consulting. Another type is the established management and strategic consulting firms that focus mainly on management consulting that covers any specific industry. Yet another type is the smaller boutique consulting firms with consulting focus and expertise on specific industries or technologies.
The more established consulting firms today include Arthur D. Little, a general management consulting firm; Booz Allen Hamilton was the first consulting firm to serve clients in both the government and the industry; McKinsey & Company, was one of the first pure management consulting firm and currently leads the field. It was also one of the first consulting firms to hire graduates of top MBA schools rather than hiring experienced industry personnel. Boston Consulting Group brought an analytical approach to the study of strategy and management. Bain & Company introduced its focus on shareholder wealth. Traditional accounting companies such as Arthur Andersen and global IT services firms such as IBM also set up consulting departments.
Businesses or companies can engage a business or management consulting firm or an individual business consultant who will draw up suitable business plans and strategies and implement them. Consultants are generally well paid with some business consultants charging $150 per hour, and sometimes even as high as $2,000 per day for their services.
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