Can’t Afford the Car Payment

Ξ July 21st, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Business, Life, Money, Thumbs Down, Wheels |

With the cost of gas everyone is talking about ditching their current cars and buying something new and smaller and more gas efficient. Well people, I have to say that I for one cannot afford a new car payment. Not only can I not afford the car payment, but I can’t afford the extra ridiculously high car insurance payment that goes along with the cost of buying a new car.

The car salesman told me that the average payment now runs $450 for a new car. My insurance guy told me that the cost of full coverage insurance for a new car will run $400. Now people, why on earth should I take on another $850 per month car expense just because gas has hit $4 per gallon? I mean, do the math! If gas is a dollar more a gallon now than the same time last year, that means roughly $25 per week more.

So compare an extra $100 per month against an extra $850 per month that will only save you about $100 per month. That new car doesn’t sound like such a bargain any more, does it?

 

Hot Hot Summer

Ξ July 16th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Green, Home & Garden, Life |

All week we have had temperatures in the 90′2 and really high humidity. You know it’s going to be a hot day when the weatherman says things like “high index” and “record setting.”

The worst time of day to be outside is between noon and 2:00 pm. The sun is at its highest and the temperature soars.

Thankfully, once the sun goes down we get relief. The night time temperatures have been very pleasantly in the 60′2 and 70′2. You can turn off the air conditioner and open the windows at night, unless noise or crime are a factor in your neighborhood.

 

Big Brother Premiere

Ξ July 13th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Cool, Family, Life, Philosophies, Technology |

Back in the day, people speculating on what the future holds and the typical young adult paranoia had a whole generation spooked about the thought of an evil “Big Brother” ie the Government watching our every move and controlling people through surveillance and punitive measures such as police raids.

This show called “Big Brother” means that a group of people will be living under the eyes of dozens if not a hundred cameras and microphones recording their every move and conversation, but that they benefit from this because they are competing against the other household members for a huge prize over a period of time.

It’s an interesting show and this is their 5th or 6th season, so they must be doing something right.

 

Hall’s Natural

Ξ April 29th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Cool, Food & Beverage, Health, International, Life, Thumbs Up |

One of the guys in the warehouse took pity on me with my allergies obviously kicking my butt today and gave me a Hall’s Natural cough drop. He had a bag of them in his truck and brought me back a handful when they took their morning break. I have to say, this really helps soothe my raw throat and it tastes good. The one I have is a honey-lemon flavor, but they also come in citrus, herbal mint and wild cherry. I know this because I looked it up on their website since I had never heard of them until Derrick brought me one. The honey lemon is fine - it reminds me of the tea with honey and lemon that my mother used to give me when I was kid and not feeling so great.

From reading the bag, I was surprised to learn that Hall’s is made in Canada and distributed by a New Jersey company. So thank you to our friends up north for a cough drop that is helping me get through this miserable work day.

 

Texting from the Web

Ξ April 29th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Business, Computers, Cool, Technology, Thumbs Up |

The salesguy in our office was showing me a new service he is trying out to grab more leads. We signed up for a service called “web callback,” which means that if someone is on our company’s website and they want to talk to someone right away, they can click on the “call button” and a text message goes right to our salesperson’s cell phone. Then he calls the number provided in the text message and has the chance to make the sale to a hot prospect over the phone.

He found this cool feature while surfing the internet himself and got all the info he needed from http://www.procallback.com. It installed easily and works like a charm. What a cool idea!

If you want more details, you can go to their website or read up on this press release I found:

Press Release:

Too many companies make the mistake of getting a fantastic, and often costly, website, and leaving it unattended. The lack of human interaction and the inability to get specific information quickly results in missed selling opportunities, poor customer service and abandoned shopping carts. Successful selling over the Internet will require new customer service strategies and methods.

Web sites can now become more than interactive advertisements. Placing a web callback box, enables customers to “click to talk” to an agent, creates direct connections between consumers and your company’s customer service and sales professionals, helping improve service and boost sales. Visitors simply enter their phone number into a strategically placed box, click the button, and within seconds, they’re off the Web and on the phone speaking with your most powerful assets - your people. Providing a service like this used to be prohibitively costly, and outside the scope of many businesses. However now its now within the reach of even the smallest businesses.

For building relationships, delivering information, creating up-selling and closing opportunities, adding web callback boxes is a fast, effective way to improve your Web site’s productivity. Some companies spend huge amounts of money to generate web site traffic and fail to adequately service customers. A typical enquiry via a web callback box costs pennies and can result in a substantial improvement in service.

The use of web callbacks are in widespread use in the USA, using a costly method involving a remote call centre making outgoing calls to the website business and the browser, which are then automatically connected together. However Mercia Networks is proud to announce its new service available in the UK which provides a comparable service, but at a fraction on the cost. The service is called ProCallback.

The ProCallback mechanism is simple. When a customer clicks on a callback button, a mobile phone text message is sent to a mobile phone in the business sales or customer service team with the details the user entered. They can therefore call the user back, while the user is still viewing the web site. The system can automatically filter out bogus messages such as invalid phone numbers or missing fields. Special fields can be added which are particular to the business, which can either be mandatory or optional. For example, identifying a particular product or service, so the sales staff can be aware of the potential customers area of interest before the call is made.

Currently, consumers are online looking for good reasons to buy products and services. ProCallback delivers information and opens relationships that are critical to buying decisions.

ProCallback technology could be compared to using freephone numbers, but it holds several advantages. A typical freephone number will get a caller to the main company switchboard, or worse, into an interactive voice response (IVR) system. By contrast, ProCallback boxes can be established for every department or sales representative, so the mobile phone text message can be sent to the particular representative who is best able to satisfy the customer. Also, freephone numbers work only from UK landlines. Customers calling from mobile phones, or who are outside the UK will hesitate before personally paying for an expensive call.

Most important, ProCallback offers customers a simple way to do more than browse a company’s electronic catalogue. It offers an easy way to do business. Impulse buyers are more likely to click on a “call” button than dial a freephone number. If you spend money advertising your site, prompt surfers to call you before they click out of your site and you lose the sale.

Web callback boxes convey the message that your company is staffed and ready to accommodate customers. It announces there are real people at your company who are available to assist online customers. If your company has made a commitment to provide excellent sales and customer service, Web callback can be a valuable key to on-line success, If your company spends cash to generate Web site visitors, don’t let them leave without taking their order, one-to-one, over the phone.

ProCallback is available at www.procallback.com which is a website run by Mercia Networks. They have been providing web site solutions to businesses since 2001, including Jaguar Cars.

 

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