With the growth of Internet and e-mails, it is easy for everyone to send and receive documents that are confidential or copyrighted. These actions could be damaging and may result in unwanted legal harassments. Receiving external documents containing viruses is another burning problem these days, which could harm or seriously damage your system and cause severe disruption to the organization.

Browsing the irrelevant web sites and be unproductive in their assigned role is another issue causing employers headache.

Technology is only part of the solution and can only help you enforce your policy. The responsibility for successful e-policy lies with both management and employees. Management needs to decide what is appropriate to the organization, lay down a set of rules or guidelines (a policy) and inform all employees of this. Employees need to understand the risks to the organization and ramifications of not following the procedures laid down.

No matter how small your company, here are some steps you need to take:

• Implement an e-policies addressing employee use of e-mail, the Internet, software piracy and ethical use of e-resources. That should be an integral part of the employee handbook
• Everybody in the organization should be educated about the details written in e-policy.
• Provide clear guidance, if possible give examples and templates, on what is and is not appropriate to communicate via e-mail.
• Let everybody know how much personal use of Internet and e-mail is acceptable.
• Prepare and enact a risk management policy that incorporates policies on e-mail and other electronic documents retention, deletion, passwords and filtering.
• Implement a computer and network security policy to keep hackers and other intruders out of your system.

Many of the above issues can be addressed by use of some form of technology, but only the technology can not help to enforce policies. It is no use having a police force if there are no laws for them to uphold.

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I am trying to list here few of the reasons why people blog. Write your reasons in comment area to expand and make this list more comprehensive. People are motivated and engaged tirelessly to operate blogs for one or more of the following reasons.

To make money
This is the most motivating reason people start blogging. They create blogs to generate traffic that they make money from Google adSense and other click and impression based ads providers. If blog traffic is high, you get advertisements more easily.

To establish and enhance brand
Small and large businesses today run blogs to enhance their another business or sell another product/service. People are (more…)

It’s a fact: People would rather do business with people they know–or know of–than with strangers. When you’re introduced to a prospect through a personal recommendation, that prospect has a vastly higher comfort level than, say, a buyer you find through cold calling. After all, few things are more reassuring than a positive endorsement from someone you know and trust.

I will discuss the best ways to ask for referrals and how to follow up on them.

A referral from a happy client, a friend or business relations is a very easy way to introduce yourself to a prospective customer.

Whenever you make a sales presentation, business prospect discussion with a prospective (more…)

1. The consumer perspective
   Social networking sites are money-making machines creating a need for added value among young people causing them to spend all their pocket money on extra features such as VIP profiles, widgets, gifts for friends and so on.
2. The youth perspective
   Social networking sites are places that help young people be young and let them “practice” youth. Therefore, the sites are mainly a reflection of youth culture.
3. The friendship perspective
   Social networking sites are places where young people can maintain and nurse their existing (offline) friendships and create new (online) friendships.
4. The identity perspective
   Social networking sites are spaces for identity construction. Here, young people are continuously constructing, (more…)
   ]]> http://www.rajeshshakya.com/perspectives-on-online-social-networking.htm/feed/ http://www.rajeshshakya.com/meaningful-meetings.htm http://www.rajeshshakya.com/meaningful-meetings.htm#comments Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:26:04 +0000 Rajesh Shakya http://www.rajeshshakya.com/meaningful-meetings.htm This week, I spent 70% of my time in different meetings - in-house, business, social and professional. My friends ask me how can I manage my time to attend all meetings. Actually I don’t attend all meetings. I know, I can not. I always choose the meetings to attend. I have some criteria attending meetings. If I get invitations for meetings without agenda and I am not even briefed about the meeting, I am not much interested.

   In meetings you may have two roles - host or participant. Either you are host or the participant, in meetings you have to be innovative and capable to promptly analyze the issues. Otherwise, meetings will slowly kill your valuable time. I can’t sit and just kill my time in long and pointless meetings. I think people should be concise and precise because people always have many other better things they could be doing with their time otherwise. I hate the meetings even with the agenda, when the agenda is long and people speak in length just trying to make their presence noticed. Meetings, like all other serious matters, require a certain sense of urgency and always move forward drawing the decisions and understandings.

   I hate the meetings when people just sit around tired, drinking coffee after coffee and trying to keep going on one issue and always spending quite a lot time around that. Either you are host or the participant, you should try to be precise and try to put your decisive opinion forward. Don’t try to confuse the participants. Just don’t drag the meeting longer. Give the (more…)

   ]]> http://www.rajeshshakya.com/meaningful-meetings.htm/feed/ http://www.rajeshshakya.com/7-tips-to-become-a-salesperson-in-true-sense.htm http://www.rajeshshakya.com/7-tips-to-become-a-salesperson-in-true-sense.htm#comments Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:07:28 +0000 Rajesh Shakya http://www.rajeshshakya.com/7-tips-to-become-a-salesperson-in-true-sense.htm To the salesperson that is trying to become a salesperson in true sense, I offer these seven tips:

   1. Study about sales
   Buy book on sales and make your habit to read anything you see about the sales. Read interviews of established salespersons, listen podcasts by sales gurus. One of the best books I have read on sales is Ziglar on Selling: The Ultimate Handbook for the Complete Sales Professional by Zig Ziglar.

   2. Know your product or service
   Read manuals, specifications, instructions. Discuss with the product manager, developers. Spend time around the production area if its a product. For knowing service, visit to customers with the service providers, know exactly what the service is.

   3. Know about your customers
   Identify the target customer. Do some pilot sales. Try to understand, why your customer need your product or service and how does he/she use the product or service. Try to understand, what is the specific thing customer really likes in your (more…)

   ]]> http://www.rajeshshakya.com/7-tips-to-become-a-salesperson-in-true-sense.htm/feed/ http://www.rajeshshakya.com/repeat-customers-are-your-brand-ambassadors.htm http://www.rajeshshakya.com/repeat-customers-are-your-brand-ambassadors.htm#comments Sun, 24 Jun 2007 13:01:07 +0000 Rajesh Shakya http://www.rajeshshakya.com/repeat-customers-are-your-brand-ambassadors.htm Do you keep record of your client details? Have you ever analyzed who is giving you more business? How many clients came to you once and never came for second project? What is the frequency of projects coming from repeat clients? What does it take you to get your customers to come back to you again with new projects and requests? It depends on what your business is, how often they need your services, and how well you have treated them well, how much care you have given to their previous projects, what was your effort to put excellence in their projects and again how much you’re reminding them to come back. Could you make a mark? Leave your image to your clients.

   It’s now time to check back your clients, their projects, and evaluate the relationship with each of them. Prepare a chart to see, who is most valuable to you and your business. This chart will give you a clear picture of your success or failure status in business. Number of repeat clients is the measure of your business success.

   Repeat customers can be built only by offering the consistently high quality products or services, proving integrity in your deals and maintaining the level of excellence high in all deliverables.

   You already read my blog post “Is there any formula for Customer Retention?” on customer retention. Convincing a new customer to try your product or service is only a beginning of your journey. The goal is to retain the customers and have them return again and again with new projects and requests and even make them so loyal to your service that they tell (more…)

   ]]> http://www.rajeshshakya.com/repeat-customers-are-your-brand-ambassadors.htm/feed/ http://www.rajeshshakya.com/enterprise-knowledge-vacuum.htm http://www.rajeshshakya.com/enterprise-knowledge-vacuum.htm#comments Sat, 16 Jun 2007 08:47:31 +0000 Rajesh Shakya http://www.rajeshshakya.com/enterprise-knowledge-vacuum.htm My friend and one of my regular readers - Ananta Risal wrote me today:

   How to help enterprise to retain their knowledge and which in turn helps you manage more?

   Enterprises are already moving towards making knowledge more open, sharable and accessible. Knowledge needs to be collaborative, inter-operative and re-usable. Knowledge needs management. It has its own life - initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling and its closing. An exceptionally unique attribute that needs nurturing to make it dynamic & long lasting. How do you proceed in your life, department, organization?

   Last year, one of the International NGOs hired me for consulting on managing knowledge in their organization. They use laptops and PCs, they use emails, web based free emails and everything they know about - fully computerized, very few things in hard copy documents. Most of their staffs are short-term contract employees. They join, work for few months as per contract and they leave. They write project reports and reports are archived, but always something is missing. After people leave organization, no way of accessing information in their laptops, personal emails, web based emails. Whatever available in organization network is all fragmented. Some information in emails, some other in PDF, Word, Excel, (more…)

   ]]> http://www.rajeshshakya.com/enterprise-knowledge-vacuum.htm/feed/ http://www.rajeshshakya.com/tips-for-professional-networking.htm http://www.rajeshshakya.com/tips-for-professional-networking.htm#comments Fri, 11 May 2007 18:56:18 +0000 admin http://www.rajeshshakya.com/?p=6 I will be writing a series of posts on Professional Networking. This is the second one in the series. In my post “Professional Networking” yesterday, I tried to formulate a hypothetical framework of Professional Networking. Today I will give you some tips based on my Networking experience.

   Preparation
   Preparation is the most essential requirement for any kind of networking. If you are prepared upfront, you are more confident and open. You will be able to express yourself more precisely and you will make the most out of any networking opportunity you get.

   Value the Time
   For any thing you do, not just for professional networking, a good time scheduling approach is important. Chance of success is high, if you plan, organize and set discrete goals with clear vision. If you are set to attend a professional networking event, don’t forget to consider the time it will take to reach the venue to ensure that you reach a little earlier and also set a side a little time for the after event informal chatting with the participants. Time after event is even more important for informal bondings. It reminds me my meeting in Tokyo last year with my Japanese client. I learned from my client that Japanese business people close most of the deals after formal official meetings at informal meetings during dinner time. It may not be true everywhere, but it is sure that informal bonding helps to make formal decisions. If you’re going to attend such professional networking events, don’t forget to set your alarm on your mobile phone or on event calendar you use in your laptop to remind you to leave the office on time and it is important that you leave with the time margin I discussed (more…)

   ]]> http://www.rajeshshakya.com/tips-for-professional-networking.htm/feed/ http://www.rajeshshakya.com/professional-networking.htm http://www.rajeshshakya.com/professional-networking.htm#comments Thu, 10 May 2007 17:34:58 +0000 admin http://www.rajeshshakya.com/?p=3 I had scheduled to post a different post to start my own domain, but I saw a post by Chris Garrett about the professional Networking. That encouraged me to write this post.

   When I think about professional networking, the first thing that comes to my mind is the vicinity of the networking. Is it local, around you? or is it the world wide networking? If you talk about the local networking then obviously the local events - Conferences, seminars, trade fairs, professional association meetings, trade association meetings and club meetings are very effective. You get a chance to talk to prospects face to face and exchange business cards. Make sure you could leave a mark in his/her mind. Explain why you are there and what are your expectations. Listen what your peer tells about him/her. You should be able to quickly (in 20-40 secs) match if your interests intersects somewhere in the Venn Space you create in your mind. Here comes the questions, are you looking for buyer networking or seller networking? or just a networking for friendship. Your Venn space shows if you are with the correct match or not. If you are for just professional friendship, the more intersecting section you see, the more you are likely to go along in future and you may be tempted to (more…)

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