Let's do lunch with…
Posted on Thu ,29/07/2010 by adminLet’s do lunch with…
0 Comments | Western Morning News, The, Jul 24, 2010 | by MICHAEL DART
Michael, 42, is one of three brothers who run Darts Farm Shop at Topsham, described by one reviewer as “like finding Selfridge’s food hall in a field near Exeter”. He lives in Topsham and has four children – George, 12, twins Maddie and Josie, 11, and Kitty, seven.
One food critic recently said Darts Farm was the biggest farm shop in the world – is it? I don’t know, but one thing’s for sure, we certainly have expanded a lot from the days when mum and dad sold potatoes from a shed by the side of the road. Someone told me recently that they still have that shed in their garden. I’d quite like to buy it back as a historical relic.
You run the business now with your brothers Jim and Paul. Do you ever fall out? Honestly no, we never have major rows. We are very well-structured: Paul runs the farming side, Jim is in charge of making the food hall run smoothly and I look at longer-term strategy. The one to watch, though, is our mum Enid, now 77. If she comes into the food hall and has to queue for too long at the till, we certainly hear about it. She sounds like a character… What can I say? She deserves a special mention for keeping the farm going after my father died in 1982, when I was 14. Without her determination, along with my brother Paul, then 21, there would be no Darts Farm today.
Have you got a favourite producer of Westcountry food? Quickes Cheese from Newton St Cyres near Exeter will always have a dear place in my heart. We’ve been selling their cheese for 40 years, alongside jars of pickled onions. The Quicke family are good, honest and reliable to deal with. Just like their cheese, really.
Where do you like to eat out? There is a wealth of really great places right here in Topsham. La Petite Maison is wonderful and very consistent, The Turf serves lovely local fresh food and I probably go to The Bridge Inn at least twice a week for a pint and a Chunks pie or pasty, made in Ottery St Mary.
What if it was a really special occasion? About once a year, I’ll go to Michael Caines’ Michelin-starred restaurant at Gidleigh Park, Chagford
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You may not know
Posted on Thu ,29/07/2010 by adminYou may not know how to get where you want to go. You may not even believe that it is possible. But just begin to explore what you dream of ? without judgments or assessments. Give yourself the gift of some free exploration.
You can learn more about *how* to create what you want later. The most important thing for now is to give yourself permission to search your dreams!
The second trick here is for you to get as specific as you can.
If you say you want confidence, what does your experience of confidence look like? Feel like? Sound like?
If confidence had a smell, what would it smell like?
The more details you can fill in, the easier it will be to create.
If you are like most of us, you know very well what you *don?t* want.
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The more angels you have
Posted on Thu ,29/07/2010 by adminThe more angels you have the more enjoyable and more
profitable business can be for you.
Here’s how to assemble your angels, and then get more of them
* Identify who you like working with
* Determine why you like working with them
* Catalog everything you know about your angels
* Ask your angels what value they got from working with you and why they chose to work with you
* Take what you’ve learned about who your angels are and find out where other ones are
* Take what your angels told you about value and use that as your marketing
If you aren’t as profitable as you’d like to be in your business, take a look
at your customer base and identify your angels and devils. Learn to
develop
marketing strategies that encourage angels to work with you and encourage devils
to go somewhere else. If you have questions on this one, give me a call;
I’d be happy to talk to you about it.
One small note, if your business’ niche and strength on price, than bargain shoppers might not be devils for you.
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Small businesses that complain
Posted on Thu ,29/07/2010 by adminSmall businesses that complain that eBay is taking their business should jump on the eBay train before it leaves them behind. eBay is not only for baseball cards and antiques anymore. Many places have an online eBay Store to supplement their walk-ins during the slow times, and to sell off-season or obsolete inventory. Besides Christmas being a good time to sell just about anything, there are going to be seasonal slow times that will bring your sales to a crawl. Also, especially in any kind of electronics business, the products you are selling today will be very different from what you are going to be selling in six months.
So what do you do with the excess inventory? Sell it on eBay. Most people don’t mind not having the next big thing. As long as your thing meets their needs, they will be happy to buy it from you.
Next, you’re scared and don’t know how to sell on eBay. You don’t want to pay someone to do it for you, and your little brother’s friend is not the best instructor.
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Top gripes for 2009: home, auto matters?
Posted on Thu ,29/07/2010 by adminTop gripes for 2009: home, auto matters?
0 Comments | New Haven Register, Jul 28, 2010 | by Angela Carter
By Angela Carter Register Staff acarter@newhavenregister.com
The state Department of Consumer Protection fielded 8,952 written complaints and 37,282 telephone calls in 2009, with home improvement, health club services and telemarketing respectively topping the list of most frequent categories.
Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr. said last year’s results were similar to those in 2008, when the department received 9,225 written complaints and 37,105 phone calls from dissatisfied consumers.
“The thing that I think is most notable is that home improvement, even in a bad economy, continues to be our No. 1 complaint,” Farrell said, adding that “major league” renovations slowed down, but people continue to hire contractors for cosmetic and smaller-scale work.
Nationally, however, the top grievance was auto deals.
The Consumer Federation of America, the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators and North American Consumer Protection Investigators Tuesday released a report showing the categories of auto, credit/debt and home improvement/construction topping the national list of consumer complaints.
Susan Grant, director of consumer protection for the Consumer Federation of America, said bogus offers to help homeowners stave off foreclosures was the fastest-growing complaint in 2009, according to the report.
“I think it’s fair to attribute it to the economy,” she said.
Other complaints related to the recession included aggressive collection practices, debt settlement and other types of debt relief services, advance fee loans, business opportunities, business closings, landlord/tenant problems, job scams, investment schemes and auto dealers failing to pay off loans on trade-ins.
Grant said 33 state, county and municipal agencies from 18 states responded to the nationwide survey.
During 2009, they collectively responded to more than 300,000 individual complaints and obtained nearly $110 million in restitution or savings for consumers.
Connecticut was cited in the report for cracking down on grocery stores that sold beef with a higher fat content than what was stated on the labels.
For lists of last year’s Top 10 consumer complaints in Connecticut and the national report, visit www.newhavenregister.com.
Survey respondents said new laws are needed to, among other matters, curb debt collection abuses, address problems with free trial offers, regulate home improvement contractors and deter gas price gouging.
Contact Angela Carter at 203-789-5752.
High Definition programming has up to 1080
Posted on Thu ,29/07/2010 by adminHigh Definition programming has up to 1080 visible lines of detail. This makes for a far crisper and more lifelike picture.
There are two main types of HD. You have 1080i and 720p. With 1080i you have more lines of resolution but your TV draws the image in two passes. With the 720p you have less lines of resolution but your tv draws the image in one pass. This means that 1080i will have the better picture but 720p will have a smoother more realistic image. Most networks have gone for the better image clarity of the 1080i but a few have opted for the smoother picture of 720p. Unless you are a serious technology nut however, you probably could not tell the difference.
As far as programming goes, viewers are somewhat limited.
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Cancer Vaccines: Targeted therapies
Posted on Thu ,29/07/2010 by adminCancer Vaccines: Targeted therapies used to prevent cancer and treat patients according to the type of cancer they have. I have personal experience with medical breakthrough number 3. For me personally, vagus nerve stimulation therapy ranks number
ONE. It completely changed my life when everything else had failed. Fortunately, the manufacturer of the vagus nerve stimulator, Cyberonics Inc., has recently managed to get the first ever device approved for depression. The ninety-minute out-patient procedure can be prescribed by your doctor/psychiatrist.
Charles Donovan was a patient in the FDA investigational trial of vagus nerve stimulation as a treatment for chronic or recurrent treatment-resistant depression. He was implanted with the vagus nerve stimulator in April of 2001. He chronicles his journey from the grips of depression thanks to vagus nerve stimulation therapy in his book:
Out of the Black Hole: The Patient’s Guide to Vagus Nerve Stimulation and Depression
His all inclusive book prepares depression sufferers to make an informed decision about this ninety-minute out-patient procedure. It is a “must read” before you discuss this treatment with your psychiatrist.
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Watchitoo Selected as Multistreaming Partner for Mashable Summer Tour
Posted on Thu ,29/07/2010 by adminBusiness Wire, July 08, 2010
Company Will Provide Streaming Video from Each of the Five Tour
Stops
Begins Saturday, July 10th
at 8:30pm PST in Seattle, Hosted by Mediaite Editor-At-Large Rachel Sklar
NEW YORK — Watchitoo,
the New York based real-time social collaboration platform, has been
selected as the multistreaming partner for the Mashable
Summer Tour beginning in Seattle
on July 10th at 8:30pm PST. The tour will make a stop in San
Francisco on July 14th followed by Washington
D.C., New
York City and Chicago
in August. The
Watchitoo platform will be embedded on Mashable.com for viewers
around the world to watch and participate live.
Were thrilled to have Watchitoo on board as our multistreaming partner
for this years summer tour, said Pete
Cashmore, Founder and CEO of Mashable.
The Watchitoo platform will allow for fans who cant make it to the
events to interact with those on the ground. Its an amazing way to
connect with our supporters and bring everyone into the same room.
Each live event will be hosted by Rachel
Sklar (Editor-At-Large of Mediaite.com),
co-hosted by Sarah
Evans (principle at Sevans
Strategy), and will feature interviews with attendees as well as
special guests and contributors who will be beamed in from around the
country.
We are honored and excited to have been selected by Mashable, the top
source for news in social and digital media, technology, and web
culture, as their multistreaming partner for this year’s summer tour,
said Rony
Zarom, CEO of Watchitoo. This is a tremendous opportunity and
provides us yet another example to showcase Watchitoo as the ideal
platform to broadcast live events.
Summer Tour 2010 Contest
Watchitoo and Mashable are also jointly running a Summer
Tour 2010 Contest where interested participants can upload a video
on YouTube explaining why he or she should be streamed live to interact
online with the hosts and virtual guests at the events. With each users
submission, he or she will also be entered in a chance to win tickets to
attend a Summer Mashable event of his or her choosing. Please
visit here for more details about the contest.
Watchitoo allows 10 participants to communicate via a web-cam in real
time, while collaborating around a custom-designed rich media playlist.
A passive audience of thousands can view the show online. Any viewer can
be added into a show via a virtual green room, where a moderator can
adjust their microphone, have a private one-on-one chat, and vet their
overall suitability to participate. Streams can be inserted, removed,
re-arranged and re-sized in real time.
More details will come in the following weeks regarding the video
streams for Washington D.C., New York City and Chicago.
Those not attending the Mashable Summer Tour in person can watch and
participate in the shows by visiting:
http://Mashable.com/SummerMash/Live/
Tickets are still available for those interested in attending the West
Coast events. Details below:
Seattle, WAWhere:
Hyatt
at Olive 8, 1635 8th AveWhen: Saturday, July
10Time:8:00 11:00 p.m. PSTMashable
Presence:Pete
Cashmore, Adam
Hirsch, Ben
Parr, Karen
Hartline, Brett
Petersel, Vadim
Lavrusik, and Jolie
ODellWatchitoo Presence: Brian
August and Hila
RazTickets:Tickets are available throughEventbrite.
San Francisco, CAWhere:
Grand
Hyatt San Francisco, 345 Stockton St.When: Wednesday,
July 14Time:7:00 10:00 p.m
streaming video hosting
This results in a more efficient, less
Posted on Wed ,28/07/2010 by adminThis results in a more efficient, less cluttered system that is optimal for users and ultimately increases productivity.
How does Data Quality Management affect CRM?
Data quality management is integral to the success of a strong CRM strategy because all the system’s users, from the sales force personnel to the executives and marketing teams, have to access the same quality of data. A central source of qualified data ensures everyone is on the same page and knows what?s going on. This leads to a more effective sales team, better customer service, efficient lead management, and an overall more solid, targeted CRM program.
What happens if Data Quality Management isn’t figured into your CRM strategy?
If data quality management isn’t figured into your CRM strategy, it means that your company may be working with faulty, inaccurate information; this can lead to all sorts of unmitigated disasters, from cold, lost leads to unsatisfied customers and a confused sales force.
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This information isn’t regularly
Posted on Mon ,26/07/2010 by adminThis information isn’t regularly updated and can’t be expected to take between 1 – 3 months before changes can be seen. Backlinks deal with quality and not quantity. A site with 1000 mediocre backlinks may not have as high a Page Rank as a site with 800 high PR backlinks.
Highlighting
You have the option of adding a highlight feature to your Google Toolbar that highlights all instances of your search term on the web page reached from your search. This can help you see how many times your competitors use specific keywords on their pages and you may modify your SEO campaign accordingly. You may also use this to check your own pages and see if you are or are not using enough of your target keywords on your page for optimum search engine placement. Besides those features listed above there are also some other cool tools on the Google Toolbar such as:
Popup Blocker: This only works in IE 5.5 or later but is a great addition as we all know that there are many sites on the web that bombard you with popups.
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