Hier werden Sie Premium ...mehr Info Kostenlose Software downloads - freeware Programme kostenlos downloaden hier bei Kostenlose. de. tl. Noch nie war es so leicht an kostenlose Software downloads zu kommen die auch noch mit kostenloser Reseller Software bestьckt ist. Freeware downloads mцchte jeder haben nur wo bekommt man kostenlos Software downloads aus dem Bereich kostenlos Reseller Software downloaden und gratis weiter verkaufen. Das Besondere an Kostenlose. de. tl kostenlos Software downloads von freeware ist das die Registrierung kostenlos ist und Sie kostenlose Software Ebooks Audios und Videos einfach als freeware gratis downloaden kцnnen. Viele melden sich an, da dieser kostenlose Software downloads freeware Dienst vцllig kostenlos ist. Ob Software oder freeware downloads Ebooks und ebooks Programme mit Reseller Software downloads und 100% als freeware zum kostenlos download auf kostenlose. de. tl. Jetzt kostenlos registrieren und kostenlose Software downloads gratis freeware downloaden. Viel Spass! Werden Sie Premium Mitglied und profitieren Sie vom gesamten Downloadbestand auf Kostenlose. Dazu gehцrt Software, Ebooks, Audios, Videos, Templates, BestSelling Packs Vergessen Sie nicht - Was Sie hier finden ist nirgendwo so kostenlos wie hier Kostenlose Software downloads - freeware Programme kostenlos downloaden hier bei Kostenlose. de. tl. Noch nie war es so leicht an kostenlose Software downloads zu kommen die auch noch mit kostenloser Reseller Software bestьckt ist. Freeware downloads mцchte jeder haben nur wo bekommt man kostenlos Software downloads aus dem Bereich kostenlos Reseller Software downloaden und gratis weiter verkaufen. Das Besondere an Kostenlose. de. tl kostenlos Software downloads von freeware ist das die Registrierung kostenlos ist und Sie kostenlose Software Ebooks Audios und Videos einfach als freeware gratis downloaden kцnnen. Viele melden sich an, da dieser kostenlose Software downloads freeware Dienst vцllig kostenlos ist. Ob Software oder freeware downloads Ebooks und ebooks Programme mit Reseller Software downloads und 100% als freeware zum kostenlos download auf kostenlose. de. tl. Jetzt kostenlos registrieren und kostenlose Software downloads gratis freeware downloaden. Viel Spass! kostenlose. de. tl
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Thursday, September 29, 2016
The bad credit people have new hope
Discussing about bad credit signature loans. it is of importance to bring forth the true meaning of signature loans But there are also a considerable number of people with bad credit history. The signature loans are provided on the basis of a signed activation letter in contrast to the conventional loans which require collateral for its approval. Signature loans for people with a good credit history are easily availed. The credit needs of people has made the lenders to offer bad credit signature loans and cater to them. Even these loans do not require a co-signer. Character loans are the other name for the signature loans. Borrower who had suffered form some financial problems in the past, many lending institutions offer bad credit personal signature loans with the aim of establishing the credentials. Credit unions and banks are the lending institutions. It might be that a person had managed his finances responsibly but situations had forced his credit score to move in a downward direction. But it is a bad credit personal signature loan that can establish a borrower's reputation in the credit market once more. In order for this to work, the borrower has to stick to the repayment schedule to achieve this. Consider the entire credit history of the borrowers in a detailed way to make sure that the outstanding problems have been solved, lenders offering bad credit personal signature loans. Getting qualified for the bad credit signature loans can help by solving problems of very important criterior. If a problem still exists, the borrower would be asked by the lender to re-apply after solving the problems It is to be noted that a bad credit history remains reflected in a borrower's credit report for a period of 7 to 10 years even after the rectification of the problem. Also, the borrowers of bad credit personal signature loans have to pay at a higher interest rate than the borrowers availing a standard personal loan. Since these loans are provided, the lenders indeed take a risk in borrowing them these loans to the borrowers with negative financial history. But these lenders also enjoy increased return on their investments for taking risks with their borrowers. It is a necessity for a borrower to obtain copies of his credit report from all three nationally recognized credit rating agencies namely Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Low financial score for the borrower often results from inaccuracies in these credit report. Mistakes from these low financial score results around 25 percent of cases. In great detail, a borrower should search for these inaccuracies in the reports. One has to correct these inaccuracies and he would find that his financial reporting score has increased within a small period of 30 days. It is very important to know that while conducting searches on the best deals of a bad credit signature loan in the credit market a person's financial score is a very useful negotiating instrument.
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Bar graphs and presentations
: Let’s make business reporting simple again. In the age of information, many of us are experiencing information overload. There is such a thing as gathering and presenting too much data, and the business world struggles to present information in a rich, powerful, and stimulating manner without crossing the information overload threshold. Remember when you were young and just conquering the skill of reading. Sure reading was fun, and our minds processed a lot of information from the words that we read, but didn’t the illustrations in the books have a more lasting affect? The old saying reminds us a picture is worth a thousands words. We can use words to describe a situation, but a picture really encapsulates the ideas we are trying to get across. We can apply this lesson to the business world. When presenting information to a conference room full of business professionals we are eager to first obtain, and then retain their attention. This can be achieved through pictures. Now, I am not suggesting that you take your doodling and add it to your presentation, but what I am sbar graphs and bar charts in your presentation. Business graphs are an essential tool to good presentations. Various types of business graphs, such as bar charts and bar graphs can offer a simple, but meaningful representation of the information you are trying to relay to your audience. Bar graphs can leave a more lasting impression in the minds of your audience members than a slide offering a comparison of quantified data. For instance, when you see a bar chart, what jumps out at you first? For most people the tallest bar is the bar that is noticed first. You might also notice the shortest bar rather quickly as it stands out as well. In all likelihood, as a presenter you are hoping the eyes of your audience members will gravitate to the extreme ends of the spectrum, either the tall bar or the short bar on the bar chart. Now that you have captured the audiences’ attention and directed it towards the information you wanted to discuss, you are free to continue with your presentation. Or perhaps you want to use your bar graphs in another manner. Rather than emphasize really high sales or really low variable costs, you wish to show an increasing sales trend. In this scenario, your bar chart would represent your monthly sales across a certain time period. Upon presenting the bar chart, it would be clear to the audience that sales had increased substantially each month from January to August. Again, by using bar graphs you have painlessly grabbed the attention of the audience, directed it toward the topic you wanted to discuss and now you can make the points that are important to you. When using business graphs in your presentation be sure to keep a few things in mind. Label the bar chart clearly so the audience doesn’t spend all its time trying to figure out what the bars represent. Make your bar charts vibrant – use strong colors to make bars of interest standout and soft subdued colors to make the other bars less conspicuous. Keep the information represented by the bar graphs as relevant as possible. Just because you have a beautiful bar chart doesn’t mean it should be used in your presentation. If you have created bar charts that will enhance your presentation then incorporate them into the presentation, otherwise leave them alone. Most importantly, be creative with your visualizations and have fun. Your audience will enjoy your presentation more and come away having learned everything you hoped they would thanks to your great business graphs.
Investment property in uk
The current state of the UK housing market makes finding investment property in the UK rather difficult as the market has taken a downward turn. However, there are still many thousands of properties for sale, either in local estate agents or on the internet. Houses, flats and apartments all over the UK can offer potential for investment from full renovation to immediate buy-to-let. Some websites offer resource online that enable you to assess the potential for investment property the UK has to offer by comparing properties against houses that have recently been sold in the same area. If you’re looking to buy property as a buy-to-let investor you will also probably like to know the going rate for rental income in the area for your type of property. People in the Midlands are displaying a surge of interest in investment property in the UK, according to a study carried out by Property for Life. Levels of parties registering an interest were up by around 25% from June to November, with the south-west showing the next highest level of interest. "Investors have every reason to be confident in the long-term returns of buy-to-let. The high demand for rented property continues on its upward path and shows no signs of slowing as immigrant numbers increase and the younger generation put off buying until slightly later in life," said David, managing director of Austin Property for Life. "The private rented sector is an essential part of the property market, also taking up the slack on social housing," Mr Austin added. Investors in UK property are also set to benefit in April 2008 when the new flat rate of capital gains tax outlined by the chancellor in his pre-Budget report comes into force. A shortage of private rental accommodation in the south-east of England means that buy-to-let investment property in the UK is making a fight-back after some negative press recently. Figures from the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (Arla) show that 57% of letting agents in the south-east are telling of a shortfall of properties in the region. The study, from third quarter 2007, says that the figure is 37% across the whole country, but for central London the figures is nearer 66%. Demand for rentla property here is strong, driven by immigation, the number of people living alone and a housing market that has squeezed some families out of house ownership and onto the rental market. This means that for investment property the UK is showing some good potential in an otherwise difficult market. There are also shorter void periods for landlords between tenants, who themselves are staying for longer periods. "Softening in the sales market is always a driver of further demand in the rental market," said Ian Potter, head of operations at Arla. "These latest figures confirm that the private rented sector will once again be the safety valve for a housing market worried by the current financial uncertainties and the softening of house prices," Mr Potter predicted. Looking deeper into the potential of investment property in the UK, a recent study has shown that landlords who buy property in areas of regeneration usually see higher yields than those on the wider UK rental market. One way to buy investment property in the UK is to buy property at auction. Here you are hoping to buy a property under its true value because someone (be they a private owner looking for a quick sale or a company with a number of repossessed properties) is looking to shift their property as quickly as possible without recourse to normal estate agency channels. There is often work to be done on the purchased property, but that can often be a recipe for even greater profits if you can improve the look and feel of the place above the local norm. Now may not be the best time to look for investment property in the UK as the housing market is on a downard turn, but there are always bargains to be found.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Softwarelady
Making Money Online - What Separates The Dream From Reality? The answer? Firstly accepting that making money online is an ongoing process resulting from hard work, patience and knowledge of internet marketing. If you look for other people to make you money online, by joining their scheme or plan, then sadly, this will be the truth you will have to face again and again: You'll make them money (because they've put the work into building their online business - and know internet marketing - and are patient enough to see the results) whereas YOU will lose your hard earned cash lining someone else's pocket. How to get resell software? Buy software one by one or join a membership club? You can go to eBay or other sites to find resell software. The problem with this is that you are ending up getting many of the same products each time you are buying a product. You must also use much time looking around the web for new products to add to your site. If you find yourself a serious membership site where you can download as much as you want for a small fee. You save the time looking for products yourself and can concentrate on selling and making a great site. This is what a good resell seller would do. He would let other find the products for him and concentrate himself on selling and marketing his site. Who to trust? There are many schemes out there and finding the right membership site for resell software are not easy. To help you we have tried several sites and we have a winner. The winning site is not the site with most products but this is the site that takes care of you and help you if you need it. The member service are excellent and if you are a "nice" member they will help you with free marketing of your site. SoftwareLady After joining and sending a couples of emails to the management of SoftwareLady, we where overwhelmed by the service of this site. We therefore decided to give them some extra point in this article. The site have about 200-300 products you can download. Most of the products comes with resell rights and others are for personal use and some you can use in your work. They have just started a forum for peoples dealing with resell products. There are not many post in this forum yet, but its a start. The good thing about this site is that they add new products all the time, you will therefore always have access to new products. The second thing is that they always help you if they can. After joining them they gave us free submission to 20 search engines and added us to over 500 link directories. The admin of the site wrote in the email with this offer: "We are trying our best to get our members to succeed". This is the feeling we have about this site. If you are thinking about starting your own internet business with resell software - softwarelady is a place to start
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Elusive images in stock photography ocean water life
As humans, our strongest emotional responses - both positive and negative - come from visual cues. That's precisely why the old adage, "A picture is worth a thousand words," has more than a ring of truth to it. When you're flipping through a magazine or surfing the Web, the photos are what make you stop and look. Today, the images that are most effective in capturing the attention of readers and web visitors alike can be summed up in three words: ocean, water, life. Imagery is Everything Those who are in the business of advertising or web design understand that developing a wonderful product or a website full of useful information is important, but it's only one component of success. Choosing the proper imagery to communicate to the potential customer or visitor can result in resounding success, while selecting the wrong images can be disastrous in terms of sales and web "stickiness." Carefully selected images can help to establish and reinforce brand awareness, can help to target niche markets, and can help to build customer loyalty. Today, lifestyle photography is the primary means of conveying consumer messages - so much so that product photography is often a small element of a print advertising campaign or a web design. Lifestyle Photography Conveys Concepts The primary purpose of lifestyle photography is to convey concepts. For example, a photograph of waves lapping on the beach can convey relaxation, freedom, luxury, and promise. Photography of crashing waves can communicate agitation, strength, and persistence. Images of still water with stormy skies can convey turbulence, doubt, conflict, and confusion. A hand reaching out of the water can relay a message of hope or of hopelessness. Photography that depicts surfing can communicate youthful exuberance or a hip, active lifestyle. Finding Unique, Captivating Images If you use these types of ocean, water, and life images in your advertising campaigns or web design work, you know how frustrating it can be to find the right photography to communicate your key concepts. Most, if not all, major stock photography companies have either a limited number of images, or images that are dated. When you're looking for unique images that evoke the proper emotional tone, it often pays to patronize smaller stock photography companies, particularly those that specialize in ocean, water, and life images. The images that will allow you to stand apart from your competition may very well come from a company that is steeped in the surf and water lifestyle. Besides offering unique stock images, the right stock photography company should be able to offer you exclusive rights, should you so desire, should track the use of all photos, and should consider commission ideas. In other words, if you need a certain type of ocean, water, or life image, the company should consider shooting the image for you and then adding it to their stock catalog. With ocean, water, and life photography quickly becoming the most common images used in advertising and web design, it's important to find a stock photography company that can deliver the unique images that will give you the edge and set you apart from your competitors.
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
300 Procter gamble pharmacists will lose jobs
February 21th, 2006 by Elif Ozdemir Last Friday, Procter and Gamble Company announced that it will eliminate jobs amounting to three hundred from the multinational company's pharmaceutical units during this summer. However, Procter and Gamble did not identify which posts will be removed. The phase out of the posts and other connected activities will take place over numerous months and should be finished on June 30. Job cuts will probably cover researchers, scientists and other technical posts. Procter and Gamble's downsizing will take effect on their research center located in Mason City, Ohio. The Mason Center has 2,560 employees and is the headquarters of the Procter and Gamble's major businesses. Some employees working in their London, Toronto, and New York facilities will also be affected. Tom Millikin, Procter and Gamble's spokesperson, insisted that the job cuts is not because they were cutting their costs. He said that it was strategic move to keep their businesses flourishing. He said that the company chose to leave research on the early stages of pharmaceutical findings. Instead, Procter and Gamble will draw its attention on the quicker procedure of purchasing and licensing medicines from other companies. According to Millikin, Procter and Gamble want to help 4,400 companies involved in biotechnology worldwide that discover chemical compounds that show potential but does not have the ability to sell their products. Despite job losses, Procter and Gamble's move is said to benefit the domestic research companies that have develop drugs at later stages. Procter and Gamble will focus on developing drugs in these areas - products for women, medicines for muscular-skeletal problems, and gastro-intestinal medicine. Previously this month, Procter and Gamble signed a contract with a pharmaceutical company, Nastech to expand and sell Nastech's nasal spray, a cure for osteoporosis. The 300 scientific job losses will be severely affect the promotion and development of the city as a center for research on life sciences. Procter and Gamble is also said to be Cincinnati's biggest employer. The Procter and Gamble community is composed of 98,000 employees in 80 countries globally. It started out as a company that manufactures candles and soaps. Now it produces products bought by people in 140 nations. The products they are known for range from diapers, detergent soap, shampoo, potato chips to bar soaps. Last year, it has been reported that Procter and Gamble has been already planning a major reorganization that now resulted in thousands of layoffs and possible plant closures. Its stock rose 3 1/8 points after the plans for restructuring has appeared in a New York Times article.
Monday, September 12, 2016
What every carpet cleaner needs to know about soil
Copyright 2006 The Janitorial Store In order to understand how to clean carpet, we need to know what soil is and the problems it presents. Soil in carpet is any substance that is foreign to the carpet's construction. Soil includes substances such as dirt, sand, food, oil, hair, dust, and anything else that finds its way onto carpet. Carpet not only traps soils that fall onto it, but it also acts as a filter for the environment. Dust, dander, soot, gases and odors are all trapped in carpet. Most soil found in carpet is sand and dirt tracked in by foot traffic. This type of soil is abrasive to the carpet and is what causes the carpet to wear. The gritty matter actually cuts and scratches the fibers of the carpet, resulting in a dull, worn appearance. The rest of the soil found in the carpet is usually grease and oils. This type of soil is acidic, which is why most carpet cleaning chemicals are alkaline cleaners. Alkaline cleaners neutralize the acids in order to remove the grease and oils. Soil and dirt are considered "soluble" whereas oil, grease and solids are considered "insoluble", which means they can't be dissolved in water or solvents. Because soil and dirt are soluble, they are more easily removed with vacuuming and extraction. However it's the insoluble matter that professional carpet cleaners are more concerned about. One of the problems inexperienced carpet cleaners have is leaving residue in carpet. This is one of the main reasons they're often called back to the job -- residue causes rapid re-soiling, prompting phone calls from unhappy customers. What about "apparent" soil? Apparent soil isn't actually soil at all. It's simply the worn appearance of the carpet that makes it seem like it's dirty. Busy hallways often have wear patterns and scratches in the fibers that simply can't be restored with cleaning. When carpet cleaning contractors see carpets with these conditions, it's best to explain it to the customer before work begins so they understand that you won't be able to repair the wear patterns. Following are the steps needed to remove soil from carpet: 1. Remove the dry soil, sand and solids by vacuuming. 2. Suspend the soil. This means separating the soil from the carpet so it can be removed. There are 4 keys to soil suspension: temperature, agitation, chemical action, and time. If one of these four are missing or decreased, then you need to compensate for it by increasing one of the other three. For example, if you don't have enough heated water, then you can compensate with additional agitation. 3. Soil removal (extraction). This is accomplished by rinsing (steam cleaning or hot water extraction method), absorption (spin bonneting), or after-drying (dry powders that are vacuumed up). 4. Rake the carpet so that wand marks or swirl marks are removed. 5. The last step is drying the carpet. This needs to happen as quickly as possible in order to avoid problems such as re-soiling, mildew and odor. The fastest way to dry carpet is with fans or air movers. Understanding soil and what it takes to remove it properly from carpet is the first step to providing carpet cleaning services in your business. And when removed properly, results in satisfied customers.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
3 Cold calling mistakes that trigger rejection
: Here are 3 common cold calling techniques that you should probably avoid: Mistake #1: Center the conversation around yourself and what you have to offer In the old approach, you introduce yourself, explain what you do, and suggest a benefit or feature of your product. And then you close your eyes and pray that the other person will be interested Unfortunately, the moment you stop talking you usually hear, "Sorry, I’m busy," or "Sorry, I'm not interested." You see, you’ve started your cold call by talking about your world and what you have to offer. But realistically, most people aren’t all that interested in you. When you talk about your company and your product, it’s just another advertisement to them. You haven’t engaged them, so they often just "turn the page." Prospects are much more interested in themselves and what’s important to them. So if you start the conversation by focusing on their world, they’re more likely to interact with you. So instead, talk about an issue or problem they may need solving. Focus on them rather than on what you have to offer. And see where it takes you. Mistake #2: Be confident they should buy your product or service In the old cold calling mindset, you’re taught to focus on the sale and be completely confident that what you’re offering is something the other person should buy. The problem with this approach is that you haven’t asked them to determine this along with you. So think about it – in the old mindset, you’re really deciding for someone else what’s good for them. I know this isn’t intended, but that’s exactly what comes across to your prospects. So rather than being full of confidence and enthusiasm, stop for a minute and think about the other individual. Relax into a real conversation instead of moving into a persuasive strategy or sales pitch. Put yourself in their shoes and invite them to explore along with you whether what you have to offer is a match for them. Others really can distinguish the difference. You’re inviting them to see if you might be able to help them solve a problem. This makes for a much better connection right at the beginning, and you’ll get that immediate rejection reaction much less. Mistake #3: When someone brings up an objection, try to overcome it You know, one of the reasons cold calling is so difficult is that sometimes you may not be very familiar with the other person and their business. When you make that first call, you don’t know very much about their issues, problems, budget, and time constraints. Chances are, not everyone is going to benefit by your product or service. So realistically, your company or product isn’t going to be a match for everyone. And yet, when someone brings up an objection ("we don’t have the budget for that," etc.), the old cold calling mindset trains you to "overcome," "bypass," or "override." But when you do that, you put the other person on the defensive. Something they’ve said is being dismissed. And here’s where rejection can happen very suddenly. So it’s much better to listen to their concerns and continue to explore whether what you’re offering makes sense for them. There are some wonderful phrases you can use that validate their viewpoint without closing the conversation. So now you’ve discovered the 3 major cold calling mistakes people often make. See if you can shift away from those old self-sabotaging mindsets. When you do, you’ll notice that people will engage you much more, and the immediate rejection you’ve grown so accustomed to will happen much less.
Friday, September 9, 2016
Tools for sarbanes oxley compliance
The Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) has set in place some of the toughest corporate governance standards in the world. In light of the ongoing enforcement of such accountability legislation, the need for software solutions to help organizations manage the challenges associated with Sarbanes Oxley compliance is tremendous. There are a number of points to be considered when seeking out Sarbanes Oxley software. A good Sarbanes Oxley software solution should provide an integrated platform with specific modules designed to meet all of your SOX 302 and 404 needs. Integration points for document management, control monitoring, business intelligence and internal auditing are key. Adopting an integrated architecture reduces the time and effort involved in gathering and reporting on Sarbanes Oxley compliance, risk management, and other governance data. Such a tool should also help organizations meet additional governance responsibilities including the standards set out in the COSO ERM framework and emerging Basel II requirements. It should identify problems, monitor process performance, assign responsibilities and prioritize action items. It goes without saying that an ideal Sarbanes Oxley software solution should be able to be customized to meet the unique needs of your organization. Case Study: McDonald’s Corporation New requirements for internal auditing and operational risk management demand the development of powerful solutions to address the specific needs of Sarbanes Oxley as well as broader governance requirements. This is true as much for mid-market organizations as it is for multinational corporations. For example, McDonald's Corporation, the fast-food giant, has been in business for 50 years and is worth a reported $19 billion. With more than 32,000 locations in 120 countries around the world, McDonald's is perhaps the most visible corporate brand. The corporation owns nearly 30 percent of its locations directly, and employs more than 435,000 people. As early as 2003, well before the final regulations enforcing the Sarbanes Oxley Act were written, McDonald's executives knew they faced a tremendous challenge in complying with sections 302 and 404 of the law. Its auditors and managing executives would be busy enough just working with local business units to ensure that deadlines were met and correct data gathered. The company needed a proven IT platform to serve as a framework and repository for that crucial compliance work. McDonald’s knew it wanted to use an industry leading, risk-based framework built on standards from the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO), since the COSO framework was already well-known and had the support of important regulatory boards such as the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The solution needed to be able to be easily bolted onto McDonald's systems and allow SOX project managers to work immediately. Paisley Consulting, the recognized global leader in corporate governance, enterprise risk management and audit management, offered the proven solution that McDonald's was looking for. Risk Navigator® would let McDonald's Global Sarbanes Oxley team load a standard set of controls into the tool, and then coordinate a global compliance effort where the core team could direct specific business units to focus on specific controls at certain times. The Risk Navigator solution was initially phased in starting in the fall of 2003 beginning with a pilot program in Great Britain. Excel spreadsheets were used to load the global standard COSO framework into Risk Navigator for each market. Managers then used the framework to do their documentation and testing. Once the pilot proved successful, McDonald's brought Risk Navigator into its North American and European operations. Asian operations were brought onto the system in 2005, and McDonald's plans to include Latin American locations in late 2006. With the global SOX team collaborating with local teams in an ongoing, sustainable effort, an estimated several hundred McDonald's managers use Risk Navigator today in some capacity. Risk Navigator cleared a path for one of the world's most prominent and geographically diverse businesses to comply with a complicated regulatory measure by the required deadline while empowering them to build a global repository of best practices for financial operations. Summation Keeping up with complex regulations such as the Sarbanes Oxley Act and sustaining those compliance activities with constrained time and resources is a daunting task for even the most visible businesses. If you’re looking for a more efficient alternative to first-generation Sarbanes Oxley compliance software, spreadsheets and other manual approaches to Sarbanes Oxley, Paisley Consulting can help.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Pricing high tech products
Copyright 2006 PJM Consulting Pricing is always an interesting topic, but even more so in the High Tech and Software worlds. In the consumer products business, if there is a package of frozen peas from Green Giant that’s priced at $3.99, you’re not likely to see someone else’s same-size package of peas priced at $14.99. But in High Tech, things are different. The pace of innovation in the High Tech world leads to pricing that’s all over the map. It’s not unusual for a brand new competitor to come out at a higher price than the current established market leader—if their product is based on market-changing advances in product functionality due to a new technology. This is unheard of in most markets. Then you have the PC business, where rapid technological advancement over a long period of time has led to continuously lower prices—with great benefit to consumers but squeezing margin (and indeed many competitors) out of the market. Things move fast in High Tech. Sometimes it’s a high initial price to harvest profits while you have a feature advantage, other times aggressive discounting based upon your lower cost structure due to less expensive technology. Whatever the case, you can often count on pricing moves to be dramatic, and to have a profound effect on High Tech market segment in the long-term. So what’s the best way to price High Tech products? Is it best to add up your fixed costs and, allocate them to a forecasted number of units to ensure you are recovering your investment? Or is it better to take your variable product costs and use a standard multiplier derived from history? Maybe you just set your pricing based on the prices of your competitors. Or let your customers tell you what they’re willing to pay. While all of these approaches have merit and a place in pricing policy, none of them should be the over-riding factor in your pricing strategy. So what is the most important factor to consider in Pricing? The most important thing to focus on in setting prices is VALUE. What is the value of your product to your customer as an economic, functional or emotional return? And how does the customer value the benefits of your product relative to your competitors? So let’s talk about the nature of Value. Value is the underlying need or want that drives a customer to purchase a High Tech product. If the benefit that the product provides closely fulfills that want or need at an acceptable price, you have a sale! The most important consideration in value-based pricing is to SEGMENT your market properly prior to the pricing decision. Segmentation, by definition, is the process of separating the total addressable market into “buckets” or segments of potential customers who have similar values, and therefore will react similarly to a specific offer. What this means is that once you have divided your marketplace into appropriate market segments, you will be able to charge individual segments different prices that are based upon the perceived value the product provides them. Let's look at an example of this segmentation approach, marketing a security software product to Corporate IT departments. Through your market research you have concluded that the potential customers with the highest pain threshold for the particular security problem you are solving are banks. By adding only a few banking-specific features to build a “fence” around this market segment, you may be able to charge a price for a banking-specific version of your product that far exceeds what other segments might pay. If you extend this model to multiple segments and do it properly, this approach will lead to far higher total revenue than if you set just one price for the entire market. The process of establishing value for each market segment, pricing to full value and communicating that value to the marketplace is the essence of Value-based pricing. Finally it’s important also to remember that pricing actions should not be done in a vacuum. Pricing is one of the 4Ps of marketing, and all four are inter-related. You cannot properly price a product without at the same time considering the features and benefits of the product, as well as how it will be promoted and distributed. The price for an Internet-distributed software product will almost certainly need to be in a lower range than one distributed via a sophisticated direct sales force or VAR channel. And if you aren’t going to have much of a promotional budget, you most likely will need to be a price leader to have any chance of being successful. If your product is at a perceived value deficit, your price relative to the market leader will probably need to be aggressive. I’m sure you get the picture. Pricing is a complex topic that many books have been written about. This post is meant to be an introduction to pricing in the High Tech world, and to get you thinking. I hope it’s been helpful. So when your next new product comes out, you’ll look a little harder before just pulling a price out of the air.