Staying Healthy While You Play Sports

If you play sports at any level and want to avoid injury while you play, read these tips for some great advice on what you should do.

Do Fitness Exercises that Help You Stay Limber and Strong

When you play sports, a certain set of physical attributes are needed to excel. The first is strength. You need to have the strength to be able to compete against the opposition. This requires that you are in good physical condition and have worked on strengthening your entire body.

Another attribute that is important is that you are limber. Flexibility plays an important role in almost every sport. You will be asked to twist, turn, bend, leap, stretch, and do other things with your body in order to compete.

If you are ever injured you may have to visit a sports physio. As well as treating an injury they can help make sure you avoid injury in the first place. This can keep you playing longer and better.

To become strong and flexible, you need to do fitness routines that promote these areas. The perfect fitness routine to compliment any sport is Pilates. Pilates involves exercises that work out the whole body, while focusing on the core. By strengthening your core, which is the muscles around your midsection and lower back, you will increase your stability and build a solid foundation. With a strong core, you can then strengthen other parts of your body.

Pilates exercises are designed to stretch and loosen the muscles, ligaments, tendons, and joints throughout the body. More and more, athletes are now engaging in Pilates and finding that it provides them with a great foundation of exercises that help them become better at their sport. Pilates also has an advanced set of courses called Reformer Pilates which utilizes a custom made apparatus and specific Pilates exercises that combine to give you more strength and flexibility. Reformer Pilates is the perfect fitness regimen if you are an advanced athlete or would like to become one.

Wear Safety Equipment

In many sports you see some of the biggest stars forgoing certain safety equipment that is advised for the athletes. In sports, safety equipment is there because there is a likelihood that you will get injured if you do not utilize it. When you play a sport make sure that you wear all of the necessary pads, guards, gloves, helmets, and every other piece of safety equipment that is recommended. You may feel skilled enough to play without it, but for safety sake you should definitely use it.

Never Play Angry

When you play sports, your attitude often determines how well you do. Many people play and become frustrated if they are not winning and as a result play angry. When you play angry, you open yourself up to injury and don’t think clearly resulting in bad decisions. You should always play with a level head no matter what the score or what position you and your team are in. If you find yourself angry on the field or court, take yourself out of the game, have a drink of water and calm yourself down. Once you are calm, you can resume playing.

Have a Cool Down Period After Games or Matches

Everyone understands stretching & warming your body up before a game or match is important. However, not as many people put as much emphasis on cooling the body down after a game or match is completed. When you’re done the body is still functioning at this overextended level, and needs to be slowly brought down back to normal. Doing things like stretching exercises, hot tub soaks, massage therapy, meditation and deep breathing will allow you to cool down and help you avoid injury.

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Understanding Your Therapy After a Car Accident

If you are injured in a car accident and have sustained injuries to your muscles, bones, ligaments, tendons, or joints, part of your therapy and healing will likely include seeing a massage therapist. The massage therapist will help you get your body back to normal and also help you with the mental aspects of your recovery. Here are a few of the important benefits a car accident victim can expect when seeing a massage therapist.

Getting Your Strength Back

Car accidents can create a variety of injuries. Many are to the skeletal and muscular system. If your muscles are injured, you will need to let them heal. This means not using them for an extended period of time. When muscles aren’t used for a long time they weaken and can even atrophy. Your physiotherapist will create a program that includes physical therapy exercises and Massage Therapy to help you regain your strength.

Work on Improving Range of Motion

When muscles and bones are injured in a car accident, you can develop issues with your range of motion in your joints, ligaments or muscles. Massage therapists that use remedial massage are great at increasing your range of motion. The remedial massage therapist will examine any injuries and develop a program that will include bone healing and range of motion massage therapies. This approach can greatly improve your range of motion, bringing back a sense of normality to someone who has been in a car accident.

Keep Your Morale Up

A massage therapist is also somewhat responsible for bringing confidence back to their patients who’ve been injured. Car accidents can result in mental injury as well as physical with the mental injuries sometimes much more difficult to fix. A massage therapist will use their time with a patient to provide positive messaging and reinforcement that assist a patient with their mental recovery.

Massage therapists can play a critical role for those who have been injured in car accidents and require continuing physical therapy to get back to full health. Seeing a remedial massage therapist will result in the patient gaining many benefits from the therapy.

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Have You Got What It Takes to Succeed as an Entrepreneur?

entrepreneur

Being an entrepreneur is more romanticised than ever and popular culture increasingly celebrates entrepreneurship as well. Have you ever thought of being an entrepreneur yourself? Do you have an idea nobody else has thought of? The better question should be: do you have what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur? Sure, new technologies make it easier to start a business, but increased competition means that there’s a smaller piece of the pie for everyone. Here are some questions you should ask yourself before you make the jump.

entrepreneur

Are You Willing to Work Hard?

While it is possible to work part-time on a business or take a second job, the reality is that starting your own business will require far more time than a standard job.

It is common to work six and seven days a week in the startup stage, especially if you’re alone. Twelve-hour days are common. Are you willing to work hard? And are you willing to invest this time though you may fail? Are you self-driven? If you aren’t able to drive yourself to keep going when you aren’t getting paid for your time, you probably shouldn’t be an entrepreneur.

And forget about off days and vacation packages if you’re just getting started. You’ll probably won’t have time to delegate at first and you’ll need to be committed to your clients, which means being available to them as much as you can. So, unless you are ready to put the whole weight of the business on your shoulders, then entrepreneurship is definitely not for you.

Are You Willing To Take Risks?

Starting a business is a major risk. An estimated 70% of businesses fail within ten years, though the failure rate depends on the industry and product or service offered. Even if you can start a business without any financial investment, you’re still pouring your time into it. You risk working many hours without pay if the business fails, whereas an hourly job would pay you a predictable wage. If you aren’t willing to risk failure, you’re not qualified to be an entrepreneur.

You can manage the risk by keeping debt to a minimum, only taking measured risks, and being covered by insurance. For example, you could limit your risk by taking out loans to fund the business but refusing to mortgage your house. Look for ways to rent the equipment you need instead of buying and try to buy used instead of new.

Insurance protects you against risk. You can get a quote for business liability insurance at next-insurance.com. Take the time to get familiar with the different types of insurance they offer since you may need additional types of insurance for your business.

Can You Handle Failure?

Your business may fail. That’s one risk we already addressed. However, as an entrepreneur, you will experience failure in many ways on a regular basis. Sales calls will be rejected the vast majority of the time. Your initial product may not sell well, and you may have to change the design or your business model or both. On top of all of this, you have to be realistic. If you set unrealistic expectations, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Are You Willing to Take On Complex Financial Issues?

You’re going to have to take on complex financial issues. A budget is the first step, but you’re going to have to start dealing with taxes and raising funds almost immediately. You’ll have to generate invoices and collect payment due if you want to remain in business. You can reduce the burden by hiring qualified tax experts and an accountant, but you have to be aware of your financial status and plan for future expenditures if you want to stay in business.

Recognize that you don’t have to be a jack of all trades, but you will have to wear many hats, at least at first. Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and know where you’ll need to bring in help and when.

Can You Sell Yourself?

If you’re building a business, you have to be able to sell your business – and at the very start, that is just you. You’re the head of marketing for your new business, selling your services or products. You’ll need to convince investors and lenders to loan you money. You may need to convince others to work for you. If you need constant ego gratification, the constant rejection small business owners face makes entrepreneurship a bad idea.

Conclusion

Read through our list of questions you need to ask yourself to determine if you’re the right type to start your own business. If you feel like you fit the bill, make sure that you research the market for your business or product idea first and have all bases covered before you start.

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How to Maximize the Production of Fertilizer

Fertilizer is a substance added to soil to improve plants’ growth and yield. First used by ancient farmers, fertilizer technology developed significantly as the chemical needs of growing plants were discovered. Modern synthetic fertilizers are composed mainly of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium compounds with secondary nutrients added.

The Importance of Fertilizer

Over half of the world’s food supply depends on fertilizer. The importance of excellent fertilizer production, storage, and transportation continues to grow. By supplying crops with the essential nutrients that they need, fertilizers promote the efficient use of land resources and improve overall crop quality and production. The world’s leading producers of non-organic fertilizers are China, India, USA, Russia, Canada, and Brazil. From small farmers to multinational agricultural concerns, anyone in the industry of growing food must turn to fertilizers because these substances contain plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium — primary components vital for plant growth.

The Process

Fully integrated factories have been designed to produce these compound fertilizers. The raw materials come from many different sources to be chemically engineered into viable nutrients. Depending on the actual composition of the end product, the production process will differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. For fertilizer production, the varying non-organic components are blended together. This blending can be achieved through a pipe reactor system or a rotating drum process, resulting in ideal size.

Cooling and Storing

The most important step in fertilizer production is cooling, which is required for proper storage and transportation. Elevated fertilizer temperatures will result in product caking, leading to breakage and a lower-valued end product. Naturally, fertilizers attract and absorb moisture from the surrounding air. Moisture transferred between the product and air will cause increased humidity in the surrounding air, leading to condensation and product caking. To prevent this reaction, cooling the product to an ideal temperature for storage and transport is extremely important and will lead to a higher quality end product.

Innovated Technologies

Fortunately, there are manufactures like Solex Thermal that have created an innovative technology that maintains the integrity of the fertilizer during production. Check their site today to find updates in heat exchanger technology your business can use such as how their cooling system uses vertically stacked plates within a modular design to cool fertilizer granules through conduction. The product passes through as water cools the material. Air is not used in this process, preventing contamination and degradation of the final product.

Solex heat exchangers ensure efficient thermal performance. The unit is designed with long-term operation in mind — and without the need for regular cleaning. Units are custom-designed to take in to account:

  • Type of fertilizer
  • Necessary thermal performance
  • Ambient local conditions
  • Water temperatures
  • Optimum purge air flow rate and
  • Optimum dewpoint which prevents condensation

By eliminating air cooling methods, this innovative technology has contributed to a superior end product and a 90% decrease in energy consumption.

In big agriculture, you want a company that brings at least 25 years of experience with over 150 fertilizer reference plants from a wide range of climates. Processes like those from Solex result in lower installation costs, minimal maintenance, and a decrease in manufacturers’ carbon footprint.

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Why Many Entrepreneurs Start Their Own Businesses

If you’ve been working for someone for long period of time, chances are during that time you thought about starting your own business. The idea of having to spend all of your days working hard so that someone else can benefit greatly from your efforts, can be pretty depressing. One way to change this dynamic is to start your own business so that the efforts of others and you can go towards your benefit.

This is one reason, however there are several reasons why entrepreneur start their own businesses.  Here are a few of the most popular reason.

You Want a New Career

Perhaps you have a career that simply does not satisfy you anymore. Maybe it is the amount of money you make what type of job, the conditions you working, or even the people you work with. Any of these reasons and many others can cause someone to want to start their own company. When someone is not satisfied with their current career, it can cause them to rethink their present and future. This can sometimes allow creating your own future and your own company like successful entrepreneur Louis Gonzalez Jr. as a viable option. It is important to keep in mind however that when you decide to become an entrepreneur you have to do many things that do not fit the description of CEO. So you should be prepared and understand is fully if you plan to go out on your own.

You Have Outgrown Your Profession

Many people are content to do their jobs and only their jobs for their entire careers. An architect for example might be a fantastic architect only wants to design homes. Somehow Architects however might find that they also want to run an architectural firm where they oversee other architects. This new position will also include managing aspects of a business and building that business in the marketplace. If you have aspirations in addition to being a great architect, you might be outgrowing the profession and becoming an entrepreneur. To be sure, you should write a business plan about your idea for an architectural firm. When you review this plan, does the idea of executing it make you excited? If so, this is further indication that you are a budding entrepreneur.

You Focus on the Entire Industry

If you find yourself working at a job yet spend a large part of your time focusing on an entire industry, you are thinking like an entrepreneur. When you spend your time focusing on industry, you are thinking like a business owner and someone who should be concerned about what is going on any industry instead of just at your desk. If you find yourself doing this regularly oh, it is an indication that perhaps you might want to set up your own business.

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Montreal Real Estate Trends to Expect in 2019

montreal real estate

The Montreal real estate market is one of the major markets in the entire country, alongside that of Toronto and Vancouver. Right now the market for Montreal is on a hot streak, and that predicted by experts to continue well into 2019 and beyond. In fact, many see the Montreal real estate price growth to exceed to that of other cities in the whole of Canada.

montreal real estate

Here are some trends to look forward to in the real estate market of Montreal in 2019:

Home Prices Will Still Rise

This is also predicted for many other cities, but the confidence that experts have for the Montreal market is quite strong. In fact, the median prices for homes in the Greater Montreal Area are expected to go up by 3%. In contrast, the increase in the median prices for homes in the Greater Toronto Area is only expected at 1.3%, while it’s only 0.6% for the Greater Vancouver Area. Nationally, median prices in Canada as a whole are expected to rise by 1.2%.

It does seem like the growth rate is decreasing all around, even with the prices climbing up. That is due to certain factors, such as regulatory real estate intervention, the consistently low price of Canadian export oil, rising interest rates, and the inherent risks of global trade.

Demand Will Remain Strong

What’s fuelling the rise in prices is the constant demand for homes from potential buyers with the budget to afford them. The demand is partly due to increasing population growth along with the strong migration, and so these new immigrants to Montreal will certainly need new homes.

The huge peak millennial group consists of the 25 to 31-years old buying a home for the first time, and most of them plan to own their homes instead of just renting. Baby boomers are also planning to sell their empty nest oversized family homes for more suitable smaller houses.

The unemployment rate has also reached historically low numbers. This means more people in the city have jobs and are saving money to buy a home, while new professionals come in to meet the demands for more workers.

There is still high consumer confidence, and economic growth in Montreal is steady. The new Canada-US-Mexico Agreement has also renewed confidence in trade south of the Canadian border.

Finally, it helps that prices on the whole in Montreal are comparatively more affordable than the homes in Toronto and Vancouver. The median prices for the Greater Toronto area are expected to rise to $854,552 in 2019. For the Greater Vancouver area, these prices will be even higher, with forecasts predicting median prices of up to $1,291,144 in 2019.

In contrast, the median prices for homes on Montreal are downright cheap even with the largest jump in prices. Experts say that these median home prices in the greater Montreal area will still be only $421,306 in 2019. That’s less than half the price in Toronto, and less than a third the price in Vancouver!

Continuing Interest from Foreign Investors

When Montreal real estate professionals talk about “foreign investors”, they’re actually referring to Chinese investors. The Chinese economy is still booming, and it’s predicted that the upper-middle and affluent class in China will reach 220 million by 2022. So far, the number of individuals with high net worth has increased by a factor of 9 over the last 10 years.

About two-thirds of these affluent Chinese have international real estate investments. In 2010, Chinese investment in international property was only $5 billion. By 2017, this has increased to almost $120 billion.

Canada has been one of their favourite real estate targets, but lately this interest has been waning. Chinese investment in Canadian residential real estate decreased by 55% in 2017, while interest for commercial property it went down by 61%.

Montreal is the most notable exception to this trend. More Chinese investors are becoming interested in the Montreal real estate market. Experts attribute this to the lower prices of homes in the area, and the taxes imposed by Vancouver and Toronto on foreign buyers surely didn’t help.

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How to Plan a Team Building Retreat

When seeking to build and maintain a successful business, you have to be constantly aware of all of the elements that are required to create this type of a business. Every company that is successful has a variety a processes that they utilize in order to create and sustain success over long periods of time.

Some of the important elements that are required are to have great products and services that meet and even exceed the needs of customers. You need to be aware of your marketplace and what the competition is doing and always be able to position your offerings so that they resonate better with your target markets. Additionally, companies must have great relationships with their strategic partners, investors, and any other relevant component of the business. Finally, management must have a positive and productive relationship with employees. To build your business, there must be a  consistent effort there must be a consistent effort to train new employees, show them that they are appreciated, and to help them advance at their jobs and generate more success and revenue for themselves.

Go There Together

When you go on your company retreat, there are many options for you to get there. You can have your employees drive separately, you can have some of them carpool to get there, or the best choices you can rent a bus or several buses where everyone rides together. When you rent a charter bus or minibus, it allows for your group to spend quality time together where they can bond, start of new creative ideas for the company, work through any issues they may have amongst themselves, and generally have a good time together.

Plan How to Get There

The internet provides great new mapping applications that allow you to lay out the routes to any destination you want to visit. You can get a details map that will show you the exact route and give you understand what type of roads will be taking. Some programs also can give you updates about any potential traffic issues and can lay out the projected amount of time it will take for you to arrive at your destination. The bus driver will also have this information, but it is great for you to have it as well. You should also map out several alternative routes in the event of a traffic accident or bad traffic.

Break up the Ride

Plan to make several stops along the road for your team to stretch their legs, see a little nature, use the restroom facilities and get something to eat. For long rides, you should make sure that there are several plans stops so that people do not get too uncomfortable in the bus. When your people know that there are stops planned along the Route, he will make everyone more comfortable.

Get in Some Quality time on the Road

Another great idea for your road trip to your company Retreat is to make several planned stops on the road to view cultural, and other types of attractions. Every state has a long list of cultural attractions that are easy to reach from the main roads. When appropriate, take a few of these detours and use them as opportunities to get your team to bond better.

Do You Need a Place to Stay Overnight

If traveling to your Corporate Retreat demands that you make one more overnight stays at hotels along the way, you should definitely look into booking hotels in advance. This way you don’t run into the problem of not being able to find enough rooms for your group. This is particularly important if you have a large group that you’re traveling with. You can also use hotels and their conference rooms as mini retreat areas on the way to your main retreat.

Give Your Team Ways to Bond on the Road

While on the road, your team will have a lot of spare time. You should include some bonding activities like games that they can engage in together. Playing games together as a team is a great opportunity 4 your employees to discover things about one another and to make new friends within the company.

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Effective Ways to Manage Biosolids and Their Strong Odours

Residents who live near wastewater treatment plants, landfills or disposal sites will all complain about the inescapable odours that permeate the air. An effective way that facilities can manage these odours produced by biosolids is to get their hands on the right chemical solutions.

You may have noticed the stories of entire neighbourhoods being up in arms about the smell of waste nearby. Residents near Humber wastewater treatment raised concerns about the sewage plant odour infiltrating their public space — the smell discouraged them from leaving their homes and walking around outdoors. One person reported that the stink was so powerful that it wafted into his room and woke him up.

Similar frustrations happen with residents living near landfills and waste management facilities. After sending thousands of complaints, people who lived near the Orgaworld garbage and composting facilities demanded that their city deal with the odour issues that have been plaguing the area for years. It was proposed that the city extend its definition of a nuisance bylaw to include smell.

Much like noise pollution and smog, smell can affect people’s physical and mental health. People can suffer from persistent headaches, nausea and sleep deprivation when they breathe in the tainted air. It’s clear that the sensory disruption puts a lot of unnecessary stress on entire communities.

In order to avoid disturbing residents, wastewater treatment facilities can turn to the company CCC Chemicals for help. The supplier has a wide array of water cleaning chemical and wastewater treatment chemicals available, including corrosion inhibitors, ion exchange resins and oxidizers.

They have a team that is prepared to assist companies find the right solutions for their problems. If you are interested in looking at their portfolio, you can learn more at CCC Chemicals online or by contacting their specialized technical support team for additional information and specific product recommendations.

One of the options that is ideal for controlling and limiting odours produced by biosolids is Biologic SR2. These are plant-based micronutrients sourced from the manufacturer SciCorp International Corp because they can eliminate the biological reactions that create pungent smells during the waste deterioration process. The micronutrients are biodegradable, and they have a carbon footprint that is almost at net zero levels — these great features mean that facilities can shrink costs on odour control and energy spending.

Biologic SR2 is not specifically designed for wastewater treatment facilities. It can be inserted into misting systems for other types of facilities that deal with biosolids like landfills, transfer stations and garbage rooms.

The supplier has additional odour control products in their portfolio that companies can use to get positive and fast-acting results, like:

  • Activated carbon
  • Hydrogen peroxide
  • Permanganates
  • Calcium nitrate

Facilities need to manage odour produced by biosolids because members of the public, whether they live near the site or simply pass it regularly, will complain. They will send letters, make angry phone calls and fill up town halls in frustration. The only way to make everyone happy is to turn to chemical solutions that will dramatically limit the tenacity of the smell.

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Motivation: 4 myths that you shouldn’t buy into

Once upon a time it was unheard of; motivation wasn’t really talked about by business leaders. Now, it’s one of the first words off the tip of their tongue and for a business to be successful in the modern-day world, they generally need to have a team whose motivation levels are up there with the best.

It is one of the reasons why online MBA degree programs have evolved and changed so much in content over the years. Previously, they may have focused on so-called “traditional” elements of leadership, with autocratic business styles historically preferred. Now, we have almost changed to an employee-first situation, where the views and opinions of workers are held in very high regard.

However, while there has been a change in culture when it comes to motivation in a lot of industries, there are still a lot of inaccuracies that are published about it. Through today’s post, we will hone in on some of these myths and tackle them for good.

“All employees are motivated primarily by money”

For a long time, this was the opinion held by a lot of business leaders. It was felt that the only way to motivate workers was to increase their salary.

However, over time, it was found that this only had short-term effects. Employees would be given a pay rise and might be motivated for a short period of time following this. As time progressed, these motivation levels relapsed, and they were back to square one. It might be regarded as an easy win for management, but it is not going to yield long-term results.

“All employees are motivated in the same way”

Hopefully, you already know that this is completely untrue. What works for one employee certainly isn’t guaranteed to do the same for another, and this is why a degree of personalization is required when dealing with your workers. One person might place a lot of emphasis on flexible working, while another might want a clear path to career riches. Finding out what makes your employees tick is crucial to your business.

“Employees aren’t bothered about recognition”

Next on the list is the recognition-factor. For a long time, it was speculated that employees didn’t really consider this a motivational factor. After all, they were enlisted to do a job, and that was the end of the matter.

However, various studies have concluded that being recognized by your employer is significant for a lot of workers. Whether this is simply verbally, or by a tangible reward, it can go a long way in making employees feel valued.

“Time wasting activities should be stamped out”

This final myth is still apparent in a lot of workplaces, with many businesses having a strict policy in relation to so-called timewasting activities such as surfing the internet during working hours.

From a motivational standpoint, it can work wonders though. It was found through studies at some high-profile institutes, including the University of Melbourne, that these sort of activities improve your workers’ concentration levels (and thus motivation).

Should it take up half of their day? Of course not. However, for say 20% of their working day, it can actually help out significantly.

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How to avoid the principle mistakes that blight your sales stats

While some industries are subject to change after change, this isn’t necessarily the same when it comes to sales. The principles remain the same and while technology might play its part from time to time, if you were to compare top salespeople from decades ago to ones in the modern-day, you would probably find a lot of similarities.

At the same time, you may also find a lot of mistakes. The nature of sales means that it is very easy for mistakes to creep into your work and if you are struggling to get your numbers up, take a look at the following to see if you are falling into some of the most common traps.

Mistake #1 – There’s no personalization

If we rolled back the clock a few years, this wouldn’t really have been a mistake – at least in larger businesses. After all, personalization was only really possible in smaller businesses who had the time to get to know their clients, and ultimately use this to their advantage.

Well, technology has of course changed this. One only has to look at the rise of account based selling to see this in full-detail, and how companies really can target individuals much more easily nowadays.

Mistake #2 – You just focus on the offer

A lot of people mistake sales with throwing as many offers into the face of a consumer as possible. In truth, it’s not like this in the slightest. Sure, some consumers are going to be completely game for that 20% offer, but the bulk of your sales won’t arrive because of this.

Instead, most will come because you are solving a customer’s problem. You need to show how your product and service will resolve a particular issue, and go from there. After you have demonstrated this, you then might tip them over the edge with price.

Mistake #3 – You take too long to close

There is certainly an art of closing, but far too many people don’t time this part of the sales process properly.

Far too many people instead let it draw out much longer than is ever needed. Not only does this mean that time is wasted, but it can actually turn off a buyer who is just tired of hearing more information about the chosen product or service.

What’s the best way around this? Ask the client. Ask if they have heard enough, and from then on you can choose whether to try and close, or continue your pitch.

Mistake #4 – You ignore people who could influence the decision

This is something of an old-hat mistake. Traditionally, salesmen were taught to convince the decision-maker to buy a product – but this isn’t necessarily the best strategy nowadays.

Sure, if you get them on your side you are a long way there, but also think about the influencers. Start to realize that other people can influence the decision-maker, and try to target them through your pitch.

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