With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.

January 1 became the beginning of the New Year in 46 B.C., when Julius Caesar developed a calendar that would more accurately reflect the seasons than previous calendars had.

The Romans named the first month of the year after Janus, the god of beginnings and the guardian of doors and entrances. He was always depicted with two faces, one on the front of his head and one on the back. Thus he could look backward and forward at the same time. At midnight on December 31, the Romans imagined Janus looking back at the old year and forward to the new.” 1

With the first week of 2012 coming to a close, many business owners are wrapping up 2011 financials finding they did not do as well as they hoped. Many times KONTOR finds the loss in sales a business owner experience can be attributed to ineffective advertising, missing your target market, lagging customer satisfaction, lack of dedicated sales force or an unproductive sales force.

Whether you need to generate more sales, make a business plan or just want to get your name out there, KONTOR can help. We offer Sales & Marketing programs via cold calling, social media, internet marketing, search engine optimization and business plans to get your sales back on track or to generate new sales if your company is struggling.

Many business owners believe they only need a business plan to start a company not to keep it going. Like everything in business, a business plan should change and grow as a business changes and grows.
Why do most businesses fail in the first 3 years, because they fail to plan.

A Solid Business Plan:
-Proves that you are serious about building your business to employees, partners, financial investors and yourself.

-Will identify your completion in the market place and how to be competitive in the market place.

-Can outline who your target customer/market is, how they spend and why they buy.

-Determines if you need to raise capital and how much you need.

With a solid business plan in place you will be able to focus on what is important to make your business a success and stay that way.

Other services provided by KONTOR include Professional Recruiting, Legal & Business Research, Grant Writing.
For a more detailed listing, please visit us on the web at: www.yourkontor.com or call us at 407-283-7334 to discuss your current business needs.

1 – http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Ryan_Blair

In 1621 when the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians celebrated the first Thanksgiving, they were gobbling up many more foods than just turkey. Since lobster, goose, duck, seal, eel, and cod were plentiful during this time, these foods were most likely the main courses of this first feast. Deer meat and wild fowl are the only two items that historians know for sure were menu of this autumn celebration.

So how did the turkey become the main mascot of modern-day Thanksgiving if we don’t know for certain that turkeys were at this first feast?

One story tells of how Queen Elizabeth of 16th century England was chowing down on roast goose during a harvest festival. When news was delivered to her that the Spanish Armada had sunk on it way to attack her beloved England, the queen was so pleased that she order a second goose to celebrate the great news. Thus, the goose became the favorite bird at harvest time in England.

When the Pilgrims arrived in America from England, roasted turkey replaced roasted goose as the main cuisine because wild turkeys were more abundant and easier to find than geese.

Turkey Trivia:
• The long fleshy skin that hangs over a turkey’s beak is called a snood.
• The color of a wild turkey’s naked head and neck area can change blue when mating.
• Male turkeys are nicknamed “toms” while females are called “hens.”
• When turkeys reach maturity they can have as many as 3,500 feathers!
• Faster than a speeding bullet–Wild turkeys can run up to 55 miles an hour!

1 http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/turkey.asp

From all of us at KONTOR Business Support – Have a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

Responsibilities:

* Qualify prospects and setting qualified appointments.

*Contact current & prospective client customers to promote services

* Follow up with prospects/set appointments to re-confirm

* Assist with other projects as assigned
JOB REQUIREMENTS
Must have excellent communication skills and the ability to convey ideas in a clear concise manner. Proven track record in sales and marketing thru B2B cold calling. Must be self motivated and results driven. All Applicants must have a minimum of 7 years experience.

As you get ready for your weekend celebration of Labor Day, are you going to be celebrating entering the last quarter of your business year? Has your company’s bottom line gotten lower, can’t seem to find the time to bring in new accounts or don’t know how you are going to bring your revenue up before the end of the year?
KONTOR can help. KONTOR Business Support is an industry leader in Sales and Marketing Process Outsourcing. Every day our experts are creating, implementing and managing successful sales and marketing campaigns that get results and ultimately lead to increased profitability. Our method of analysis, research and immersion into our clients’ companies enable us to promote sustainable sales using proven execution models. Our consultative partnership approach allows businesses to focus on their core competencies, while we put our 100 years of combined sales and marketing experience to work for you.

By allowing us to implement and manage your Sales & Marketing through call campaigns, you will realize:
Increased efficiency – KONTOR’s cost structure and economy of scale can give your company an important competitive advantage while shifting fixed costs into variable costs.
Reduction of labor costs – outsourcing to KONTOR will enable you to focus your human resources where you need them most.
Focus on core business/competency – outsourcing to KONTOR can help your business to shift its focus from peripheral activities to revenue producing activities.
Increased productivity – KONTOR will help you accomplish more in less time.

KONTOR is able to accomplish these goals by speaking in your voice and specifically focus on generating appointments to get you in front of key decision makers. We will produce qualified opportunities to sell your service or product and grow your business.

Lead generation – we’ll identify and compile leads in your target market based on your criteria

Cold calling – we’ll call and introduce your service or product and determine the level of interest by each lead/prospect

Info gathering/investigation –we’ll collect contact and all other pertinent information so that we can pursue follow up opportunities on your behalf

Info delivery – we’ll send our your marketing material and collateral so that prospects can become more familiar with your offering

Follow up – we’ll follow up with your prospects to make sure they’ve received your marketing material and answer and address any questions or concerns

Appointment setting – we’ll generate appointments and opportunities for you to sell your product or service

Reporting – we’ll provide you with weekly call reports so you know who was contacted, when, how many times, and what transpired with every lead/prospect

Contact management – we’ll create a contact database for you so that we can manage your email marketing on a consistent basis.

Other services provided by KONTOR include Sales & Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Business Plans, Back Office Support, Professional Recruiting, Internet Marketing, Legal & Business Research, Grant Writing.
For a more detailed listing, please visit us on the web at: www.yourkontor.com or call us at 407-283-7334 to discuss your current business needs.

*http://www.history.com/topics/labor-day

There are several steps to follow for a successful cold call when you are calling a business, and the more you practice, the more comfortable you will get.

Step 1: Preparation
The goal of the first call is not to sell your product. It is to find out if the potential client has a need for your product and to set up a time to discuss it further. To accomplish this you need to have clearly defined your product or service. What kind of companies are you calling? Who within these companies would be the decision maker? How would your product or service help the company you are calling?

Step 2: The Introduction
You only have a few seconds to grab the attention of the person on the other phone. Make sure you state clearly who you are and your purpose for calling. This needs to include a reason for the person on the other end of the line to engage in a conversation with you. This goes back to how you can help the person on the phone with your product or service. For example, help them save money, get in front of more clients, save time etc.

Step 3: Ask Questions
A successful cold call is not a monologue. Ask open ended questions! Find out how your product or service will help the potential business. For example, if you are selling promotional products, find out what they currently use to promote themselves. Are they happy with their current distributor? If they could save money would they be interested in more information? Use your questions and their answers to paint a picture of how you can help them.

Step 4: Set the Appointment
Most people are busy and will not have time to discuss in detail what you can offer. Schedule an appointment when they have more time. Ask them when would be a good time to call back. Ask for their email information and tell them you will email some information for them to look over before the call. Ask for a commitment to look over the material.

Step 5: Follow Up
Make sure you send the information as promised and the confirmation for the appointment. This should be brief but should include more information on your products and services.

Step 6: The Appointment
If you ask the right questions in step 3 you will know what the potential client is looking for. You can now give them detailed solution to meet their needs. At the end of the appointment make sure you ask for the sale.

Most sales people prefer to hire companies to cold call, but if you can conquer cold calling, you will excel in all aspects of sales.

The information below was written by Mary Bellis and can be found on About.com.

In the 1870s, two inventors Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell both independently designed devices that could transmit speech electrically (the telephone). Both men rushed their respective designs to the patent office within hours of each other, Alexander Graham Bell patented his telephone first. Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell entered into a famous legal battle over the invention of the telephone, which Bell won.

Alexander Graham Bell – Evolution of the Telegraph into the Telephone
The telegraph and telephone are both wire-based electrical systems, and Alexander Graham Bell’s success with the telephone came as a direct result of his attempts to improve the telegraph.
When Bell began experimenting with electrical signals, the telegraph had been an established means of communication for some 30 years. Although a highly successful system, the telegraph, with its dot-and-dash Morse code, was basically limited to receiving and sending one message at a time. Bell’s extensive knowledge of the nature of sound and his understanding of music enabled him to conjecture the possibility of transmitting multiple messages over the same wire at the same time. Although the idea of a multiple telegraph had been in existence for some time, Bell offered his own musical or harmonic approach as a possible practical solution. His “harmonic telegraph” was based on the principle that several notes could be sent simultaneously along the same wire if the notes or signals differed in pitch.

Alexander Graham Bell – Talk with Electricity
By October 1874, Bell’s research had progressed to the extent that he could inform his future father-in-law, Boston attorney Gardiner Greene Hubbard, about the possibility of a multiple telegraph. Hubbard, who resented the absolute control then exerted by the Western Union Telegraph Company, instantly saw the potential for breaking such a monopoly and gave Bell the financial backing he needed. Bell proceeded with his work on the multiple telegraph, but he did not tell Hubbard that he and Thomas Watson, a young electrician whose services he had enlisted, were also exploring an idea that had occurred to him that summer – that of developing a device that would transmit speech electrically.
While Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson worked on the harmonic telegraph at the insistent urging of Hubbard and other backers, Bell nonetheless met in March 1875 with Joseph Henry, the respected director of the Smithsonian Institution, who listened to Bell’s ideas for a telephone and offered encouraging words. Spurred on by Henry’s positive opinion, Bell and Watson continued their work. By June 1875 the goal of creating a device that would transmit speech electrically was about to be realized. They had proven that different tones would vary the strength of an electric current in a wire. To achieve success they therefore needed only to build a working transmitter with a membrane capable of varying electronic currents and a receiver that would reproduce these variations in audible frequencies.

First Sounds – Twang
On June 2, 1875, Alexander Graham Bell while experimenting with his technique called “harmonic telegraph” discovered he could hear sound over a wire. The sound was that of a twanging clock spring.
Bell’s greatest success was achieved on March 10, 1876, marked not only the birth of the telephone but the death of the multiple telegraph as well. The communications potential contained in his demonstration of being able to “talk with electricity” far outweighed anything that simply increasing the capability of a dot-and-dash system could imply.

First Voice – Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.
Alexander Graham Bell’s notebook entry of 10 March 1876 describes his successful experiment with the telephone. Speaking through the instrument to his assistant, Thomas A. Watson, in the next room, Bell utters these famous first words, “Mr. Watson — come here — I want to see you.”

Alexander Graham Bell – Brief Biography
Born on March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Alexander Graham Bell was the son and grandson of authorities in elocution and the correction of speech. Educated to pursue a career in the same specialty, his knowledge of the nature of sound led him not only to teach the deaf, but also to invent the telephone.

The first day of school – a chance to re-invent yourself, up your image, meet new people, start fresh and hope for a more successful and productive year than the one before. Sounds like a Sales & Marketing Plan put together by KONTOR via the internet.

Social Media, internet marketing, search engine optimization can do the same for your business. You can get your business name and location(s) back out there among consumers because the “not knowing” who your business is, what your message is or where your business is located is not charming. The “not knowing” is why your current Sales & Marketing strategies aren’t working as well as they used to.

Online Brand Management/Social Media are new sales & marketing strategies which breaks new ground in ways of communicating with consumers. It is Public Relations, Direct Selling and Advertising.

An effective Online Brand Management/Social Media campaign will make people aware of your product or service, instill consumer trust, create brand ambassadors, push sales, increase profits, and create brand loyalty.

KONTOR’s Complete Brand Management Solution is as follows:
Better search results
More local awareness
Growth in online traffic
Better word of mouth
Long term growth in sales
More directed conversations
A clear change in client relations

KONTOR’S Online Brand Management is completely customizable based on your needs and your budget

Other services provided by KONTOR include Sales & Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Business Plans, Back Office Support, Professional Recruiting, Internet Marketing, Legal & Business Research, Grant Writing.

For a more detailed listing, please visit us on the web at: www.yourkontor.com or call us at 407-283-7334 to discuss your current business needs.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128853/quote

A Solid Business Plan:

-Proves that you are serious about building your business to employees, partners, financial investors and yourself.

-Will identify your completion in the market place and how to be competitive in the market place.

-Can outline who your target customer/market is, how they spend and why they buy.

-Determines if you need to raise capital and how much you need .

-Does attract investors by answering investors’ questions about your product/service. What makes your product/service unique? Is there a need for your product/service? What are the anticipated financial projections?

-Assist with positioning your project/service to be successful from launch to steady growth.

With a solid business plan in place you will be able to focus on what is important to make your business a success and stay that way.
Other services provided by KONTOR include Sales & Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Business Plans, Back Office Support, Professional Recruiting, Internet Marketing, Legal & Business Research, Grant Writing.
For a more detailed listing, please visit us on the web at: www.yourkontor.com or call us at 407-283-7334 to discuss your current business needs.

“When was Memorial Day first celebrated? Memorial Day was first celebrated on May 30, 1868. It was observed by placing flowers on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers during the first national celebration. Gen. James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which around 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who were buried there.” 1

Being a Veteran myself and coming from a family with a long line of military members, I wanted to take a moment to say “Thank You” to those who have fought for our freedoms, continue to fight and to remember those who paid the ultimate price with their life; “You are not forgotten”.

As we close out the month of May out, I am remembering what a great month this has truly been for KONTOR.

Can you imagine having the flexibility to ramp up, sustain and slow down your sales staff at your own pace, especially if you are a small business with limited staff and funding resources? Our returning client, a Commercial Building Contractor does. He received so many opportunities to submit bid proposals for new projects from his latest 40 hour call campaign (a few of which he won), he has requested we hold off on calling again for him until Mid July. You see, he is the General Contractor and the Head of Sales like many small business owners. As much as it pains me to see a client go, this is a celebration due to the growth of his business, by partnering with KONTOR, he will be back

For those of you who don’t know, KONTOR’S Sales & Marketing Solutions is completely customizable based on your needs and your budget.

Update on the Franchise Broker out of Colorado who contracted for a 100 hour call campaign: KONTOR has set 58 qualified appointments with candidates looking to own their own business in the near future, have $100k in liquid assets and a net worth of $ 250K or above and meet additional criteria our client asked us to confirm before setting an appointment.

The Franchise Broker is so happy with our results, they have signed on for 180 hour call campaign in June and plan to phase out their other lead generation sources.

A supplier of promotional products and apparel in Central Florida has been using KONTOR as their sales force to generate leads, give an overview of their website and to set appointments for their Director of Sales during the past 10 months with great success. The Director of Sales told us – “After going through several sales representatives, paying commissions and benefits only to have the reps not work out, KONTOR is my sales force.”

Your business benefits when you partner with KONTOR through:

• Increased efficiency – KONTOR’s cost structure and economy of scale can give your company an important competitive advantage while shifting fixed costs into variable costs.
• Reduction of labor costs – outsourcing to KONTOR will enable you to focus your human resources where you need them most.
• Focus on core business/competency – outsourcing to KONTOR can help your business to shift its focus from peripheral activities to revenue producing activities.
• Increased productivity – KONTOR will help you accomplish more in less time.

In closing, we, at KONTOR, wish you and yours a happy & safe “Memorial Day”.

This is just a brief overview of the business support we provide. Sales & Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Business Plans, Back Office Support, Professional Recruiting, Internet Marketing, Legal & Business Research, Grant Writing are just a few of the services we do provide.

For a more detailed listing, please visit us on the web at: www.yourkontor.com or call us at 407-283-7334 to discuss your current business needs.

1 http://www.purpletrail.com/partytrail/featured_memorial_day/what-is-memorial-day-history-facts
* Results can vary depending on geographical area, product/service being presented, etc.

Contrary to popular belief, Mother’s Day was not conceived and fine-tuned in the boardroom of Hallmark. The earliest tributes to mothers date back to the annual spring festival the Greeks dedicated to Rhea, the mother of many deities, and to the offerings ancient Romans made to their Great Mother of Gods, Cybele. Christians celebrated this festival on the fourth Sunday in Lent in honor of Mary, mother of Christ. In England this holiday was expanded to include all mothers and was called Mothering Sunday.

In the United States, Mother’s Day started nearly 150 years ago, when Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian homemaker, organized a day to raise awareness of poor health conditions in her community, a cause she believed would be best advocated by mothers. She called it “Mother’s Work Day.”

Fifteen years later, Julia Ward Howe, a Boston poet, pacifist, suffragist, and author of the lyrics to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” organized a day encouraging mothers to rally for peace, since she believed they bore the loss of human life more harshly than anyone else.

In 1905 when Anna Jarvis died, her daughter, also named Anna, began a campaign to memorialize the life work of her mother. Legend has it that young Anna remembered a Sunday school lesson that her mother gave in which she said, “I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother’s day. There are many days for men, but none for mothers.”

Anna began to lobby prominent businessmen like John Wannamaker, and politicians including Presidents Taft and Roosevelt to support her campaign to create a special day to honor mothers. At one of the first services organized to celebrate Anna’s mother in 1908, at her church in West Virginia, Anna handed out her mother’s favorite flower, the white carnation. Five years later, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling for officials of the federal government to wear white carnations on Mother’s Day. In 1914 Anna’s hard work paid off when Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother’s Day as a national holiday.

At first, people observed Mother’s Day by attending church, writing letters to their mothers, and eventually, by sending cards, presents, and flowers. With the increasing gift-giving activity associated with Mother’s Day, Anna Jarvis became enraged. She believed that the day’s sentiment was being sacrificed at the expense of greed and profit. In 1923 she filed a lawsuit to stop a Mother’s Day festival, and was even arrested for disturbing the peace at a convention selling carnations for a war mother’s group. Before her death in 1948, Jarvis is said to have confessed that she regretted ever starting the mother’s day tradition.

Despite Jarvis’s misgivings, Mother’s Day has flourished in the United States. In fact, the second Sunday of May has become the most popular day of the year to dine out, and telephone lines record their highest traffic, as sons and daughters everywhere take advantage of this day to honor and to express appreciation of their mothers
From: http://mothers-day.123holiday.net/