Effective Presentation Skills

Good presentation skills are essential - for business, public speaking, training, sales, and self-development in today’s workplace. Preparation and knowledge are necessary for an outstanding presentation. To deliver an effective presentation, it is important to understand certain aspects.

Outlining your thoughts:

It involves a lot of work where you should research on the topic and need to know the purpose of presentation. You need to be clear in your thoughts and should try to achieve it.

Effective use of Images, statistics and other visual aids:

You need to use necessary visual aids. Use images, and other slides which support your presentation but not upstage it. Nothing bores the crowd more than the presenter who is just reading the notes. Don’t deliver a speech. Speak with passion.

Overcome your fears:

Be confident and controlled. Good preparation is the key for a successful presentation. It can reduce 75% of fear and 95% of errors. You need to rehearse on the presentation. Your audience will definitely support you. Don’t worry.

Other elements to be considered: Body language which includes facial expressions and other gestures that reveal you to the audience, eye contact etc. Don’t show your audience that you are nervous.

Ensure that the hardware- monitor, sound system, projector etc. are working before starting your presentation. If possible arrive early to the venue and check your presentation with a quick rehearsal which may help you to be confident may also get you acquainted to the surroundings.

English:

If it is an international presentation, different accents can be observed where some of the crowd may speak English as their second language while some speak English with an American accent. Keep your accent neutral. You need to avoid slang. Avoid humming.

Timing:
Never expect people to bear delays. Complete your presentation within time by planning accordingly. Use time effectively but cutting short unnecessary discussions. Postpone individual queries.

Communicate with audience:

Make your presentation communicative. Engage your crowd with interesting questions. Ask relevant questions. Use statistics to prove your point. Invite questions and other ideas. Accept their suggestions and appreciate it. Don’t impose your ideas. Watch their reactions.

Be patient:

Some people might irritate with irrelevant questions and request to repeat a point; you should be patient and answer them back by repeating slides. Try to get in humor along with the conversation and create a healthy atmosphere.

Finish you presentation by summarizing it with a list of key points.

There are many tips to deliver an impactful presentation which you can learn from your experience. Learning experiences from others is always beneficial. Experiences will help improve in developing an impressive presentation.

Is Telemarketing Worth It?

Telemarketing, as the name suggests, is a method of direct marketing over the telephone. With mobile numbers in their database, telemarketers choose customers with an aim to canvass their products and services and put up for sale. Normally, telemarketing is used to create awareness among business-to-business (B2B) and business–to-consumer (B2C) purpose.

Telemarketing may be done from an office, home, call center or it can be an automated call with recorded messages (often political messages). In general, people are in a misconception that telemarketing services make random calls from the numbers available in the database or in a telephone book. But the fact is that most of the organizations will survey the previous purchase history of their clients, financial information, application forms data and several relevant data is collected and analyzed. From the above analysis, they choose and list the people with highest probability of buying the company’s products.

Telemarketing profession is attracting many fresh graduates who possess good communication skills and a gratifying voice. The recruitment process is quite simple and the employee is provided with a good pay package including other benefits and compensation. Extra allowances are paid to employees working night shifts as telemarketing job comprises of endless shifts. The employees are given targets for the month and are provided with incentives if the target is achieved within the given time period.

 Few benefits of telemarketing:

• It is an important form of advertising that requires a prompt response. Telemarketing helps improve the brand value of the company. A voice mail is quite helpful in enhancing the brand value of the company. Surveys indicate that a telemarketer will reach voice mail on about 60%-95%dials depending on the industry.

• Technical issues can be explained in detail.

• Telemarketing increases the sales territory (clients nationwide or globally) of a company.

• It is an effective way to stay in touch with customers and advertise new offers and available discounts.

• With telemarketing, the company can sell products to existing clients and also to the new customers.

• Telemarketing provides vast opportunities in expanding business horizons.

Feed backs from clients indicate how well marketing materials reach the customers and help marketers in analyzing it.

Telemarketing has its own demerits as well. For instance, some people are subjected to fake schemes while some get irritating calls from companies offering loans, special offers etc. But when used appropriately, telemarketing can help the organization to increase their sales considerably. Various laws and regulations have been incorporated by the government for consumer protection and several organizations have come up with such rules and regulations that are to be followed by the employee.

For related topic you may want to read:TELEMARKETING: Don’t Just Sell Your Product. Sell Yourself Too

Establish Your Own Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) With Confidence

Putting up your own Business Process Outsourcing firm could be something that will squeeze off your efforts, money and energy.  Anyone who wants to venture into a business thinks that monetary capital is the only thing they should gather at first. But whether or not you’re ready in it with all your finances on-hand, what should you be more ready is your confidence. 

Build, maintain and project it.  That is one basic rule. Even before you have walked into the decision of putting up your own BPO, your confidence should have long been established.  And it should be firm and strong.  Because it is one thing you should maintain having when all else run out.

Remember that a BPO is not just a single responsibility. It is going to be a multiple responsibility and a lot of trusts to ascertain. Companies who will opt for the services of BPO firms wouldn’t want your money or wouldn’t ask how much capital you invested in it. They would rather look at your confidence and test your credibility. They will measure your vision by the confidence you portray.  So, once you start dealing with these companies, exude a quiet confidence and strength.  In this kind of business, that’s all you need to close a deal.

It is not much necessary that one must be immersed in a BPO business to talk about it and venture into it. When you walk into the door of your target client with that state of mind, you can close the deal before you even ask the question.  Nothing keeps you grounded and allows you to handle curve balls better than having a solid passion for what you offer and its value for the customer.

What differentiates you and your service from competitors is the knowledge of your service to develop factors that separate you from the rest. And that is the confidence that keeps you through and lifts you up when sudden collapse attacks.  There’s something about the power of confidence that can move the world.  Once we understand that, all the obstacles in putting up a BPO firm vanish before you even begin dealing.

A BPO business is a game of inches that will either bury you or catapult you past the competition. But confidence can speed up your firm’s progress and can make your company’s profit soar high. It is different from pride. It is a beautiful thing that builds credibility, while pride may destroy it.

Once you establish your company as an expert outsourcing, you can leverage relationships with client companies. Remember that BPO firm clients are companies and not individuals, so the better you perform with your dealings, the more referrals you get. You don’t have to push through deals too quickly. Make each deal an excellent one and maintain it.  

For related article, you may want to read Future of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

Virtual Assistants manage online community networks

Many Virtual Assistants (VAs) are hired to manage e-groups and blogs that support online community network.  These sites are given extra-attention by hiring assistants whose skills are more inclined to managing online communities. They generate and share knowledge that can be useful for any organisation.  Online communities are a niche market that can be used for highly targeted marketing campaigns. 

A lot has changed and developed on the internet.  Many tasks have been simplified and made a lot faster. Internet banking is now used as an alternative for ATM (Automated Teller Machine) banking. Distribution of media content has been made easier by Podcasting.  Online shopping is now fast and simple.  And the ideas of online community and e-groups have made become extremely popular and many organisations irrespective of size are engaging with their customers through the online social networking sites.

This kind of virtual assistant job is quite easy to manage since the focus is on managing the threads where members engage with each other by making posts.  The VA has to respond to any query and should not miss anything. This kind of Virtual Assistant job may pay a little less than the all-around VA jobs, depending on the number of e-groups, online communities and blogs that can be handled by the VA. But then, it doesn’t end there. Since a virtual assistant job is home-based, a single VA an accept more jobs and double or even triple her earnings.

Virtual assistants who are skilled in creating sites and community forums are also hired to maintain them.  Maintenance of these sites is time-consuming because of the regular responsibility of checking and responding. But this is important to build a community and  generate ideas, knowledge and initiate discussion by users. This helps form a loyal community of users who can be easily reached online. This is great way to market products and services effectively and promotional offers.

How a Virtual Assistant can take your business to the next level

When starting a business, it becomes quite clear in the first few months that you need employees because you can't be a master in every field. But when this time comes, you don’t need to hire a full-time office employee and pay pension, sick leave, paid leave, and other benefits. The world has changed now and you can simply hire virtual assistants who will work for you via the internet. They don’t have to be local, they can be from anywhere in the world.

A virtual assistant can improve your business by freeing up your time. They can assist you in all kinds of administrative tasks. If you are hesitant about hiring a virtual assistant, you should just give it a try so you can see how it will affect their business. Virtual assistants works from their own home office in their client's time zone. The internet has revolutionized the world and it has also helped people to work from home.

Work and communication can be easily performed via the internet, emails, video chat, and instant messaging. Virtual assistants run their own business that’s why they know how to improve your business. They can advise you or assist you on matters like marketing, branding, web-designing, e-commerce, etc.

If you have just started your business and you want to take it to the next level, your virtual assistant can help you in research, planning and coordination, so that you can focus on your goals.

If you already have a business and you have trouble remembering appointments, virtual assistants can help you to remember your important dates, and meetings. If you are busy with some other personal stuff, you can rely on your virtual assistant to handle your business.

If you don’t like to type or write your mails by your own or if you are not good at typing then you can simply record your memos, emails and letters and send it to your VA who will transcribe the recordings.

Your Virtual Assistant in Australia has a fantastic article on how you can manage a virtual assistant.

How to make a video to train your VA

There are many ways to train your virtual assistant about the task and the business but the most convenient method is to make videos and uploading to one of the many free video hosting sites. You can make training videos and send them to your virtual assistants so that they can have an idea about the work you want from them. The great advantage of making the training video is that you only have to make it once and you can forward it to as many virtual assistants as you want.

First you have to compile the work in the form of a list which you want from your virtual assistant. This work should be completed even before you collect materials to make your video because what materials you need depends on what lessons you plan to cover. Now you have to assemble the gadgets and materials you need to make video. For example you need a good digital camera, tripod, camera lights, microphone, video editing software and a lot more necessary equipment which will help you make the video.

Always write down the content of the videos before filming it because you should start your work by making outlines and then proceeding to the higher level. Then make a script for your video and then read it to check how long it will take to complete your session. When you are done with these primary steps you start to make film.

Only make videos of less than 15 minutes because if you’ll exceed the time the virtual assistant might lose interest. It’s easy to digest little things as compared to long lectures. If they lose interest, they won’t be able to do the work. 

When making your training video, you have to record the introduction and ending at the same time because these are the times when you will be talking directly into the camera. By doing this at the same time, you will find your video even and logical. It actually feels like you are teaching your virtual assistant just by sitting in front of them. Afterwards record the other part of the video and try to take close ups of the tasks part so that your virtual assistant can get it easily. 

After filming the video, copy it to the computer and edit it according to your requirement. Once you are done with the creating and editing part present the video in the most usable format. The next step is just to upload the video on one of the many free video sharing websites, copy the URL link, and send it your virtual assistants so that they can receive training through the video.

The Small Business Australia has a nice article on how to How to train your virtual assistant?

What is a virtual assistant?

Virtual assistant is the one who works on independent contracts for the clients. We generally call them VA’s. The client gives them the task and they complete it in the time frame specified by the client. They are hired to do different kinds of jobs which include creative, technical, social work, etc. Virtual assistants are not employees, but they are independent contractors therefore, clients are not required to pay employee related taxes or anything. It’s one of the benefits. Virtual assistants usually make a home office or a multi VA’s firm to meet the exact need of the client. They mostly do small jobs. There are approximately 25000 Virtual assistant throughout the world.

Virtual assistants use internet, e-mail, telephonic contact, faxes machines, etc. for data delivery and to contact the client. They are useful in a lot of aspects as they can also answer your phone call on some sites such as Skype. This makes it easy for the client to explain the type of work they want from the Virtual assistant, they can develop a good working relationship and can gain trust of each other.

Virtual assistant are found working individually as well as in the form of companies or firms and they work remotely, to provide a variety of products and services. The virtual assistance has become very famous and it is progressing day by day. It has a lot of merits which attracts the new comers in this field. Virtual assistant are from a variety of business back grounds or some virtual assistants are those who have experience in the related field in real life (non-virtual) business world. A true and honest virtual assistant is the one who works under a company/office, as the company provides the net facilities by their own. Companies also train the new virtual assistant and hire them, so that they can make some experience. And some VA’s after gaining experience make there office in home and contact the client directly.

Virtual assistants are there to help you in your work; they make your work easy by doing whatever task you give them. They are sometimes also called online administrative assistant, online personal assistant or online sales assistant. A virtual web master assistant, virtual marketing assistant and virtual content writing assistant are specific professional that are usually experienced workers from corporate environment that started to set up their own virtual offices.