This is my playthrough of the new mystery-drama suspense thriller for the PS3, Heavy Rain.
Heavy Rain HD playthrough pt17
March 31st, 2010Establish Your eBay Credibility With Mystery Auctions
March 31st, 2010If you lack credibility, your prospects simply won’t buy from you.
So, what are you doing to help your customers know you’re the sort of company or individual they can trust and want to do business with?
How are you soothing their fears? How are you showing them that you are trustworthy?
Build your credibility with Mystery Auctions on eBay! A mystery auction is where you give only clues, than a buyer bids and wins your auction not knowing what they get until they receive the shipment in the mail.
A mystery auction should not be a game or a guess. Mystery auctions should always be a ‘loss-leader’ price strategy when building your business and customer confidence.
What is a Loss Leader?
You see loss leader products in convenience stores and retail outlets everywhere. They are priced below cost to increase store traffic in an effort to stimulate other profitable sales.
A Few examples: Gillette realized that a profit could be made by selling a safety razor at reduced price and than making a nice profit margin on disposable blades. Most printers are now known as loss leaders where the profit is made off of ink cartridges.
If you are serious about your online presence and building customer relationships, buyers of your mystery auction should get more than they bargained for.
Yet, you need to be sure that the lost profit can be countered by the sales of other goods or services. If you price something too low, and people don’t buy anything else, the loss leads nowhere. It’s no longer a loss leader, just a loss.
The only true ‘mystery‘ should be why customers aren’t bidding on your mystery auction. If you think you will profit off of a mystery auction and see the same customer come back for more, good luck!
You have to take pride in your feedback. Build your trust & credibility throughout the eBay community, with outstanding feedback from others. Your feedback is an essential part of your marketing communication and it goes a very long way in building the prospect’s confidence in doing future business with you.
Now, I am not saying that credibility can be established overnight. Today is as good as any other day to get it started!
More About Mystery Shopping Companies
March 31st, 2010Agents from mystery shopping companies are being hired by a lot of firms from different industries today. The firms belonging to the travel, retail and industries that carry out work from home, hire the services of these agents. These agents are also hired by the internet and telephone based call centers to know the grievances of their clients.
A firm might hire the agents to visit their retail outlets which may be a store, a fast food joint, client services wing of a bank, vehicle maintenance and repair centre or any other place specified by the firm. These agents pose as clients to get the real picture of the performance of the sales and public relations staff out there. The mystery shopping companies convey instructions to the agents regarding the factors on which they have to evaluate the performance of the staff and the executives.
The agents might actually have to purchase goods if required to show that they are genuine buyers. The agents have to conceal their identities because if the staff and the executives at the outlet come to know that they representatives of their firm and have come to evaluate and report their performances they might start showering unnatural attention on them which will not give the agent the true picture. They might also take memberships of clubs to assess the quality of facilities given and the member satisfaction felt.
The agents from the mystery shopping companies are hired by the travel industry to assess the client satisfaction being given by their staff. The agents travel on the flights, trains, ships and buses and assess the quality of hospitality meted out by the crew. They report their experiences to the firms that own or run these modes of transportation. The client response that is meted out by the ground staff at airports, at the railway and roadway reservation counters are all observed and assessed by the agents and reported to the firms that hire them.
The agents might also be hired by firms that primarily run the home delivery business to assess the efficiency of the staff responsible for the delivery. The agents sent by the mystery shopping companies order products for home delivery and then estimate the time taken for the delivery, if all the ordered goods are correctly delivered and the condition in which the products were delivered.
When it comes to assessing client satisfaction over the telephone and internet the agents call the public relationship executives of the firms posing as clients. They report to the firm about how the executives presented themselves and whether what they conveyed was useful, accurate, reliable and easily understood by the clients. They also study e-mail responses given by the public relations staff. Sometimes the agents pose as client relations executives and handle their grievances. The mystery shopping companies also appoint personnel to see how the staff responsible for handling internet queries from clients performs. They pose as dummy clients and evaluate the responses given over the online medium.
The agents also directly interview the clients and ask them how they feel about the client satisfaction that they are getting from the client relations staff of a given firm. They either interview the clients over the telephone or face to face. This gives the impression of the client about the firm and what needs to be done to improve the present situation.
Truth Behind Mystery Shopping
March 30th, 2010If you have spent time researching home based business opportunities there is a good chance you have noticed ads referencing mystery shopping. It’s not a scam-these jobs truly allow a person to get paid to shop. While mystery shopping jobs may not be a way to fully support oneself, they can provide a venue to make a little extra spending money or earn free restaurant meals.
The idea behind mystery shopping is for a business to obtain honest feedback about how the store, restaurant or facility is running when the owner isn’t looking. In most cases, the business hires a research company, which then hires the contracted mystery shoppers to visit the business. The mystery shoppers are assigned specific times to visit the establishment and are armed with a questionnaire to help them know what aspects of the business they are rating.
Basically, mystery shopping boils down to being an observant customer, taking in the condition of the business and the quality of the services received. After the visit to the business, the mystery shopper will fill out the questionnaire and keep track of any expenses accrued during the shopping experience.
In return, the shopper receives a little payment or a free meal during the investigation. Some companies will reimburse travel expenses, but this is not true across the board, so it is best to thoroughly research the company and position before accepting jobs.
While there is no special training required to become a mystery shopper, it only helps to be good at observation, paying attention to details and enjoying a shopping or customer experience.
As with many home based business, there are people in the online world who are trying to capitalize on the mystery shopping industry and will charge a fee for people to make it onto their list of shoppers. It is best to avoid such companies and instead seek out the research companies who offer their information at no cost.
Average payment for mystery shopping jobs are $10 to $15 per business, so if you are hoping to make more money there are many other work from home jobs to consider. Just to name a few: freelance writing, affiliate marketing, and completing paid online surveys are all ways to bring in money without leaving the comfort of your home.
Many people have learned to love Mystery Shopping as a way to get paid to do something they enjoy. But if this type of work is not right for you, keep searching. Home based business opportunities are plentiful and can help you to meet your financial goals.
Mystery Thriller Fans Rejoice
March 30th, 2010Operation Snowshoe
By: Thomas F. Erickson
Published By Durban House
ISBN: 978-0-9818486-0-0
Operation Snowshoe is a rare treat, a suspenseful novel that seems torn from today’s headlines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and what led up to them. It’s a fast-paced thrill ride full of intrigue, spying, and rich, complex characterizations that make the participants in the drama that unfolds seem real enough to step off of the page. It’s the story of the Chicago Mafia lawyer (or consigliere, as he’s also known as) Tom Kempner, his wife, Katherine, and how when his wife gets sent a trunk containing diaries and other documents that had belonged to her grandfather, British WWII General Alan Cunningham, their lives get turned upside down. In fact, when their neighbor, the orthopedic surgeon R.A. Anthony Gaylani, snoops around and pilfers one of the documents, and Katherine tries to get her husband to pay attention to the possible connection between this and the current ongoing Arab/Israeli conflict in the Middle East, it costs her her life.
We’ve all heard and read of various wheelings and dealings between the CIA and the Mafia, but never quite like the way author Thomas Erickson deftly portrays them in this excellent dynamic novel. Everyone seems to be spying on everyone else, even while ostensibly cooperating with them, everyone has his own agendas, and it’s difficult to know who are the good guys and the bad guys, because no one is totally innocent nor above breaking the law to achieve their own goals. Erickson unfolds a cloak-and-dagger game that has its roots in the WWII era (and, one could argue, much further back, to the time of the book of Genesis in the Bible), that involves members of the British royal family, Arabic terrorist cells, 9/11, and Israel’s right to exist as an independent state.
Gaylani is the orthopedic surgeon who repaired bullet holes in Kempner’s chest and his shattered leg when Tom got wounded in Vietnam. But, Katherine suspects him of being much more than his surface cover suggest he is – some of the papers of her grandfather allude to another Gaylani, an Arabic one, who collaborated with the Nazis and swore his son would continue their plans. Could it be that their next door neighbor is the son mentioned in her grandfather’s papers, though he says that he’s a Catholic Italian and he’s married to a Jewish woman, Joanne?
Tom invites him over because Gaylani has suggested he’d like to have a wine tasting party, and he’s an expert in wines. Katherine passes out, and dies despite the doctor’s attempts to resuscitate her. Kempner doesn’t like to consider it, but eventually comes to believe his wife had been correct to suspect Gaylani as being part of a terrorist sleeper cell, and that Gaylani, having reason to think Katherine was on to him, deliberately put some sort of drug in her drink and then finished her off by strangling her under the pretense of attempting to revive her.
Being a lawyer for the mob and the confidante and legal counselor for its don, Mr. Gary Barberi, as well as the boyhood friend of the Deputy Director of the CIA, Admiral Eric Weiss, Kempner has assisted both the mob and the CIA before. Barberi is a modern sort of don, who doesn’t want the Chicago Mafia to deal drugs, and he’s got a very business-oriented attitude about increasing his and the mob’s wealth. Kempner comes to realize that maybe Gaylani didn’t act alone in murdering his wife, and though he wants to get revenge on the Arab who pretends to be an Italian, the CIA and the Mafia or both together might also have worked and planned to arrange for Katherine’s untimely demise.
Also, banker heiress and journalist Patricia Zwilling investigates the possibly suspicious death. Her grandfather was a ruthless banker, unconcerned with how his money was made, investing and laundering the Mafia’s ill-gotten gains. His fortune built a mansion on the estate he’d bought with the money he’d made, and though the mansion was burnt to the ground, Patricia still lives in the guesthouse and is trying to now use the wealth her grandfather and father accumulated for the good, distributing much of it to various charities. Her confrontations with Barberi and others are tense, and make for some of the novel’s best scenes, though virtually every page is interesting and if the novel was made into a movie, it would be, IMHO, a blockbuster that would earn millions.
Operation Snowshoe is a complex novel filled with intrigue, and it will have you on the edge of your seat, reading late into the night. How can an individual fight against the combined might of the CIA and the Mafia? What does a yellow Labrador Retriever named Snowshoe have to do with the Arb/Israeli conflict? To what lengths should a country like America, which on the surface supports freedom and equal rights for all, go to protect its sovereignty? These vital questions and many more make up the subject matter the plot of Operation Snowshoe. This is a novel I’d highly recommend to anyone who loves mystery/thrillers, and is interested in the roots of 9/11, the Arab/Israeli conflict, and the current turmoil in the Middle East.
–Douglas R. Cobb–
Solve the Mystery of Lost Business
March 30th, 2010A new home construction subcontractor was seeking advice about the mystery of lost business because their book rate was less than 20%. This person was an electrician, yet the principles I present in this article apply to just about any small business. The opening remark began with a statement that they thought they knew why, so this theorizing meant they were actually uncertain and probably needed a trusted neutral opinion. Don’t guess the reason for lost business when you don’t know. Find out.
Many solo small business owners cannot state why they get business or why they lose business. We make assumptions, or just don’t ask. Until you make it a priority to get both these questions answered, you’ll never understand your strengths and weaknesses. Consider the dynamics of conscious marketing and sales efforts.
After the marketing is done and you find prospects the sales cycle is preapproach, approach, presentation, trial close, answer objections, and final close. Ask a trusted friend to tell you bluntly if you are weak in any of those areas. If you lack knowledge of basic sales techniques, it’s time to learn. Marketing extends into the preapproach to understand how decisions are made and the price structure. The more you prepare and form a strategy, the more likely you are to succeed.
The small business owner in this instance felt his bid invitations were received to leverage the existing contractor on price. For some of the new home construction jobs he was told his proposal was cheaper, but they awarded the contract based on an established relationship. People buy based on trust, not just price. To win over an existing source you need to demonstrate outstanding credibility and trust. The mystery of lost business for this contractor was still elusive because the right questions were never posed.
People without any intention of ever buying from you may tell you outright to save both parties time, or perhaps they like you and keep you hanging on just to be polite. You could be the pawn they use to drive down the price, but I doubt it. Years ago US Air Force procurement officers proved that even on sole source items, just stating there was competition produced lower bids by an average of 10%. The new home construction companies in this case study already made it known that their quote requests went out for competitive bids. The final decision was not about price. In similar circumstances, any theory is not as important as finding out the real reason why you lost a contract. If a customer stalls without making an immediate buy decision, here are some follow up tips before an award is made.
My sales tips and advice for small business owners when calling about proposals that are pending is assume the contract is open. It must be because they didn’t call you. Be positive. If your steps in the sales cycle are “hat in hand” then the lack of confidence factor could be killing your efforts. If you call about a proposal saying “Is the contract still open?”, then your client is off the hook. The only answer to that question is either “yes” or “no”, and the wording itself is an admission you didn’t expect to win it anyway. These subtle differences in what you say could make or break your sales success.
Try open ended questions at each step in the sales cycle. Start your inquiry with phrases that encourage your customer to open up. For example, “How would you describe…”, or “What steps do I need to take…”, or “What would you like improved…”, etc. These cannot be answered with one word replies. After your proposal is made, and at an appropriate interval for follow up, contact your prospect and state a new benefit that you offer that they may not have considered. Express your interest to do business, and finally ask for the order. “I’m ready. When can we get started?” is much more effective than asking if the order was placed.
Handle disappointments in a professional manner. After you know you lost a contract, or in this case 80% of the bids, keep your dignity and continue with the open ended phrases. State with confidence your ability to do quality work at a fair price delivered on time. Never accuse or complain about their decisions once they’re made. Find out what you could do differently next time to become their subcontractor.
Finally, you may want to consider your niche. If customers don’t open up when asked open ended questions, then it’s probably time to admit the opportunity is not worth the effort. Your time studying quote requests and preparing proposals is costly. When a prospect is repeatedly indifferent, perhaps solo work with smaller contracts or individuals would allow you to grow even if it’s in smaller steps.
In conclusion, show interest by asking about the needs of the client. Open ended questions or statements allow the customer to provide details that you may not get with a “yes” or “no” answer. Apply the open ended principles to be prepared in the marketing and sales cycle, and then deal with and learn from disappointments. If necessary, revise your strategy and redefine your market to deal with people who truly appreciate what you offer.
Mystery Or Fact
March 30th, 2010Sun raises his head with golden rays from the east
It may be ending journey with mild intensity in west
No where it seems that it is stopping for slight rest
May be it has to perform and endure the crucial test
Who know where from it get its source of energy?
Why upon its arrival everyone feels so much happy?
All of sudden there is fresh lease of life to look brighter
Dews to depart, night to go and weather no cloudier
Day to start with fresh impetus of life and vigor
Fragrance from flowers with fresh lease of flavor
What sort of this cycle is with no depletion of source?
Who is controlling them and from where with all force?
How does one can buy in this regard any arguments?
How celestial bodies can be preserved in monuments?
They are here present and may last till the end of universe
To deny their existence will be mere pretext or farce
It existed long before for centuries and may last even further
There is no logic that it may have to end either
It is mystery and will remain so as divine subject
They will be for us divine power and powerful object
They may offer force as formidable gravitational pull
It is simple puzzle theory as mind is housed in skull
How much complication to unearth its mystery?
Pages may be less if we try to make out any history
We feel clear impact even if they are thousands of miles away
They reach on earth without losing any direction or way
They revolve round their own axis for better coordination
Never cross each other or collide while making rotation
It is on record proved that no one is mightier than others
Role altogether different with not so much to bother
Some times it so happens that sun can shadow the complete moon
Sometimes it is turn of moon to eclipse sun even in noon
Tidal waves rush to wash the shores with rise of moon
With creations of beautiful scene in the day in afternoon
What is that magnetic pull which affects sea water flow?
Has that got any bearing why they go down very slow?
It is unbelievable hard fact that they have bearing
Every living being on earth are constantly fearing
What have we to do with divine theory and objects?
They are there by all means as reality or facts
The Mystery of Where Kittens Come From
March 30th, 2010Of course, we all know that kittens come from mother cats. But, where do mother cats get them. That is the mystery I am about to solve for you.
Yes, my mother did explain the “birds and the bees” to me, so I know all about procreation. Possibly the fact I have six children has also helped shed some light on the process, but I never really made a study of what constitutes the making of litter of kittens.
And yes, I am a firm believer in spaying and neutering our cats and dogs, as there are too many unwanted kittens and puppies living in an uncaring world.
However, for those of you who are as curious as I was, let us venture into exciting and romantic world of “kitty love.”
A “tom cat” is always looking for love (sound familiar) and for those of you not in the know; a “tom cat” is a male cat that has not been neutered.
Female cats are known as “Queens” and if not spayed, will come into “season” as early as six months of age, and will continue until she is about eight or nine years old. A female cat can come into season during spring; summer and early fall with the pregnancy process taking between 60 to 65 days to give birth. During the spring and summer a cat will go through “heat” cycles continuously until she is bred, has a false pregnancy or winter is approaching. Breeders can keep a Queen in breeding condition by housing the female in an area with about 14 hours of light, 10 hours of darkness and constant temperatures.
There is no exact time for the heat cycle to last, for some Queens it can be from five to eight days or as short as 3 days and as long as 20 days. If the Queen has not mated during that period she will go into a “rest period” for a short time (2 to 14 days or longer) and then resume the cycle once again.
Nature knowing that procreation does not always happen at once, (on the first mating) made it necessary for Miss Kitty to mate multiple times during her season. This can be with the same male or many males. Many fathers can produce a litter of kittens, but each kitten is the product of its own daddy and not multiple ones.
When it comes to mating our Miss Kitty is in charge, as she gives many hints of what is to come. In what is known as pre-heat she will make really awful shrill sounds, rub up against anything she can, and/or crawl around slightly dragging her hind quarters acting as if she is in pain. It is not a nice time to be around your cat when this is going on.
If a male is not standing around the corner, Miss Kitty will spread her scent about the neighborhood advertising her availability, this along with her yowling and break-type dance routine will definitely attract some male visitors.
Once this is accomplished, Miss Kitty will make her choice of suitor. The male does not approach her, she chooses him and only then will he make any courting attempts. The noisy courtship routine may last for hours, but the actual mating will take only minutes.
The mating routine is more like a free for all brawl, with Miss Kitty being extremely vocal and nasty. She will roll and try to bite her suitor and that is why he will grab her by the neck to prevent her from clawing or biting him.
Once the deed is done the tom will run away as quickly as possible. Leaving Miss Kitty to continue her act of being a wild woman. Then she will settle down and clean herself up and be ready again within 10 minutes to give it another go with a new suitor. During a heat cycle this could happen up to 25 to 30 times.
Once Miss Kitty is pregnant she will do her best to be a good mother and care for her kittens until they are ready to go on their own.
The kittens will never know daddy, as male cats have no use for kittens whether they are theirs or not.
And now you know the mystery of where the kittens came from.
Aladdin Light Lift Clears Up Mystery About How to Clean Fixtures in High Entryways
March 30th, 2010Have you ever wondered how people clean lighting fixtures that hang high above their heads? If you have, that mystery is now solved as more people become familiar with the Aladdin light lift. The Aladdin light lift is used to raise and lower light fixtures for installation, cleaning, and maintenance.
If you have a tall entryway or room in your home and you want a hanging light fixture but were unsure about how to install it, maintain it, and clean it then you need to invest in an Aladdin light lift. The Aladdin light lift is available at lighting stores online and offline, and each Aladdin light lift is designed for a specific height and weight. It is always a good idea to have lifts installed by professionals, even though they are easy enough to install for most homeowners.
Consumers in need of these lifts are finding it much less expensive to purchase them online rather than offline. Online retailers are able to offer a wider selection of Aladdin light lifts at much better prices as well. Some lighting stores only carry specific sizes, usually the most popular sizes. Though this could be helpful, many consumers prefer online retailers that are able to offer more sizes, since they are not limited by shelf-space and selling rates.
If you need an Aladdin light lift, you will want to know the size of the fixture, the length of the chain, as well as the height of the overall ceiling. You also will want to know the weight of the fixture as well, so you can be assured that you are choosing the right lift for your needs. Lights2You.com is a leading online retailer for indoor lighting, outdoor lighting, and the Aladdin light lift.
Weird US – Winchester Mystery House
March 30th, 2010In this clip from our History Channel show (produced by KPI) we visit the famed Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, CA. You can read all about this bizarre building here: www.weirdus.com