Obama

[Len_A]

pretty much the same could be said for ANYONE being paid pure commission really....could almost be classed as individual sub contractors...literally, I don't sell, i dont get a nickel....

A lot of outside sales reps, especially in the MRO (maintenance, repair, & operations) industrial supply area I'm familar with, are straight commission, and I've seen a few cases where they were 1099 employees (sub contractors). Can be real tough, because you pay all your own expenses, and health & disability insurance. A lot of your success depends on your own initiative and skills, but a big chunk depends on if you've got a good profit margin to work with and a good commission rate. Screw up either, and it starts to hurt.

 

if you can make a living selling, I take my hat off to you....I could'nt sell ice in the desert....

Not including my lengthy period of unemployment, I've been in sales over twenty-five years, and it is hard. Then again owning your own business like you are is no walk in the park either.

Edited October 23, 2008 by Len_A

[napfirst]

it is what it is, thus my passion for the future of Ford...it IS my livelihood and it is the reason my quality of life has been what it is ( humble but enjoyable ) for the time i have been "pushing" the metal. Company SEEMS to be headed in a good direction...country maybe not, hopefully that will change. I'm not a backer of either of these guys but must admit to facination on the whole process, sur makes my homeland look like a cakewalk. And Nappie, if somewhere along the way I have raised your ire ( conclusion based at the "congeniality" of some posts shot my way ) then I apologize, I do NOT come on here to raise hairs on peoples neck at all....but I will voice an opinion, one you may, maynot agree with....but man, some of the hatred being conveyed pre election is astounding...

No problem.......I'm opinionated too.....and you're right it has been unually nasty.....the next 12 days should be interesting

[Deanh]

No problem.......I'm opinionated too.....and you're right it has been unually nasty.....the next 12 days should be interesting

hard to remain open minded I swear....and my kneejerk may be due to the propensity of anti Obama posts, blogs and blanket e-mails I get here at work...ANNOYING...I am puzzled ( seriously ) why MCCain seems to have gotten the white glove treatment in comparison....hell, anyone noticed how short his arms are?....I'm ggoogling...there MUST be a conspiracy there.....

[Deanh]

A lot of outside sales reps, especially in the MRO (maintenance, repair, & operations) industrial supply area I'm familar with, are straight commission, and I've seen a few cases where they were 1099 employees (sub contractors). Can be real tough, because you pay all your own expences, and health & disability insurance. A lot of your success depends on your own initiative and skills, but a big chunk depends on if you've got a good profit margin to work with adn a good commission rate. Screw up either, and it starts to hurt.

 

 

Not including my lengthy period of unemployment, I've been in sales over twenty-five years, and it is hard. Then againm owning your own business like you are is no walk in the park either.

hang in there Len....if McCain gets in, he'll kick the bucket and Palin will.............oh wait.....man I swear this election is ABSOLUTELY insane....MEDIC!

[napfirst]

hard to remain open minded I swear....and my kneejerk may be due to the propensity of anti Obama posts, blogs and blanket e-mails I get here at work...ANNOYING...I am puzzled ( seriously ) why MCCain seems to have gotten the white glove treatment in comparison....hell, anyone noticed how short his arms are?....I'm ggoogling...there MUST be a conspiracy there.....

Now you see that comment about his arms is totally uncalled for...his arms were broken many times while he was held as a POW in Vietnam and that's why they appear to be short.

[Deanh]

Now you see that comment about his arms is totally uncalled for...his arms were broken many times while he was held as a POW in Vietnam and that's why they appear to be short.

just an observation, not intended to be deflamatory, just meant to underline the fact ( perhaps too subtley ) that too many frivilous speculative posts ( Sprinter for instance ) have been posted pertaining to issues of absolute insignificance....

[Len_A]

hang in there Len....if McCain gets in, he'll kick the bucket and Palin will.............oh wait.....man I swear this election is ABSOLUTELY insane....MEDIC!

LOL!! No shit.

[napfirst]

hang in there Len....if McCain gets in, he'll kick the bucket and Palin will.............oh wait.....man I swear this election is ABSOLUTELY insane....MEDIC!

So I can assume that you and Len are not worried about obama raising taxes of small businesses...you think that's a good thing? explain that one to me....we all know that businesses don't pay taxes...they pass them on to consumers in the way of higher prices for goods and services...then people stop buying...businesses cut cost by eliminating overhead/labor..

[Deanh]

So I can assume that you and Len are not worried about obama raising taxes of small businesses...you think that's a good thing? explain that one to me....we all know that businesses don't pay taxes...they pass them on to consumers in the way of higher prices for goods and services...then people stop buying...businesses cut cost by eliminating overhead/labor..

I think the conclusion of "higher taxes" to business is jumping to a generalized presumption ( I mean is that NET or Gross for instance )...who is to say that will not be countered with other issues such as cheaper medical, workmans comp, etc....I dont know Nap...I don't think anyone does until they see the ENTIRE outline, and then it has to pass anyways no?...its just something people "potentially" affected hone in on ( along with the Dems as a campaign tool ) whilst ignoring other issues that don't touch the "hot" buttons of voters...have you noticed campaigns seem to focus PURELY on the negetive.....

Edited October 23, 2008 by Deanh

[napfirst]

obama's wealth redistribution not popular with independent voters......

[sprinter]

just an observation, not intended to be deflamatory, just meant to underline the fact ( perhaps too subtley ) that too many frivilous speculative posts ( Sprinter for instance ) have been posted pertaining to issues of absolute insignificance....

 

 

Your California idealisms (LIBERAL) are shining through. You sure seem to be Obama’s soapbox spokesman on the Blue Oval forum. I hardly call his behavior of ignoring the law by hiding facts of his birth insignificant since requirements are clearly defined in the Constitution. Along with that he refuses to release other information about himself. It seems that Obama is as bad as or worse than Bush about his probable ‘dirty little SECRETS’.

 

It is amazing how the man can mesmerize an audience when his teleprompter works. Without it, he’s just an average Joe, but not a plumber. Personally I am not enthralled by his words exploiting his socialist agenda. I would consider myself to be aligned with real conservatism. And I am not talking about the current neo-conservatism. Unfortunately the Republican Party has strayed from its roots with many of the members not supporting McCain. Also John doesn’t have that speaking charisma. America is obsessed with actors as you should know living in southern California. If we could only find a real John Wayne.

[Deanh]

Your California idealisms (LIBERAL) are shining through. You sure seem to be Obama’s soapbox spokesman on the Blue Oval forum. I hardly call his behavior of ignoring the law by hiding facts of his birth insignificant since requirements are clearly defined in the Constitution. Along with that he refuses to release other information about himself. It seems that Obama is as bad as or worse than Bush about his probable ‘dirty little SECRETS’.

 

It is amazing how the man can mesmerize an audience when his teleprompter works. Without it, he’s just an average Joe, but not a plumber. Personally I am not enthralled by his words exploiting his socialist agenda. I would consider myself to be aligned with real conservatism. And I am not talking about the current neo-conservatism. Unfortunately the Republican Party has strayed from its roots with many of the members not supporting McCain. Also John doesn’t have that speaking charisma. America is obsessed with actors as you should know living in southern California. If we could only find a real John Wayne.

sprinter...how many time do i have to say i back no-one....bottom line I just find the Obama bashing exceptionally bias and tiring...its a total turnoff, not just to myself but the instigators don't even realize it is HURTING mCCains campaign. I think BOTH of them are class acts, but I fear the final decision has already been made.....is he hiding facts..you definitely think so...i don't, he doesn't as he can't be bothered dealing with frivilous accustaions...and for that reason the onus is on the McCain camp or the Republicans to prove so....I mean really...why should he? One thing you and i probably do agree on...whomever does get elected has a real shambles to repair....bout time they focused on the American people rather than overseas "interests".........and for what its worth, my angle would be the same if I was being barraged by BS speculative crap about MCCain....I don't believe 99% of it.....

Edited October 24, 2008 by Deanh

[RangerM]

Not including my lengthy period of unemployment, I've been in sales over twenty-five years, and it is hard. Then again owning your own business like you are is no walk in the park either.

 

I'm not a salesman, either. Whenever I've been called to make sales calls, I always felt out of my skin; like I'm trying to be something I'm not. (Myers-Briggs rates me an extrovert, but not strongly). My father was a salesman, and always loved the 'challenge of selling'. I don't enjoy it.

 

Up until I was promoted last time, I always viewed my worth in my ability to keep a client, as opposed to getting one.

 

Selling is not something that just anyone can do successfully.

[Len_A]

I'm not a salesman, either. Whenever I've been called to make sales calls, I always felt out of my skin; like I'm trying to be something I'm not. (Myers-Briggs rates me an extrovert, but not strongly). My father was a salesman, and always loved the 'challenge of selling'. I don't enjoy it.

 

Up until I was promoted last time, I always viewed my worth in my ability to keep a client, as opposed to getting one.

 

Selling is not something that just anyone can do successfully.

No, it's not something just anyone can do successfully, but it is as much a learned skill as anything else. When I first started in outside sales, even though I was comfortable with people after four years in retail, it wasn't the same. I kind of felt "out of my skin" as well. It wasn't until I picked up some training in sales that I became more comfortable with it.

 

And another thing, RangerM, there is a principle in sales that it's much easier to keep an existing customer than get a new one.

 

When I started in sales, Myers-Briggs rated me as a moderate extrovert. It went up quite a bit, as time went by, as I became more comfortable in a selling role.

[RangerM]

And another thing, RangerM, there is a principle in sales that it's much easier to keep an existing customer than get a new one.

 

I've received no training, as you have, but my intuition tells me that there is a difference between selling a product and a service.

 

What I mean is that in my line of work (environmental consulting), my 'product' is my ability to serve (more accurately, my ability to keep my clients in EPA's good graces, or at least off their shit list), and if my client is comfortable that he/she has received good customer service, then they will continue to hire me. Most commonly in my profession, such work is performed on a sealed-bid basis.

 

Where I was going with my earlier comment is that (even in the case of a couple of Government contracts my company has) we effectively get the work on a 'no bid' basis. They just call, and we just show up, and charge them. We have no meaningful marketing budget (except for our company webpage, which I wrote on my own), so most of our new-client work comes from word-of-mouth referrals. Approximately 80-90% of our gross is repeat customers.

 

That is what I meant by my perception of my worth to the company. In other words, my worth is based on the fact that I can continue getting the work without really trying (other than working hard to keep them happy with our service).

 

Perhaps that is sales of another sort? I would ask (to pick your brain), how do you perceive selling and what ways of persuasion do you find most successful?

Edited October 25, 2008 by RangerM

[Len_A]

I've received no training, as you have, but my intuition tells me that there is a difference between selling a product and a service.

 

What I mean is that in my line of work (environmental consulting), my 'product' is my ability to serve (more accurately, my ability to keep my clients in EPA's good graces, or at least off their shit list), and if my client is comfortable that he/she has received good customer service, then they will continue to hire me. Most commonly in my profession, such work is performed on a sealed-bid basis.

 

Where I was going with my earlier comment is that (even in the case of a couple of Government contracts my company has) we effectively get the work on a 'no bid' basis. They just call, and we just show up, and charge them. We have no meaningful marketing budget (except for our company webpage, which I wrote on my own), so most of our new-client work comes from word-of-mouth referrals. Approximately 80-90% of our gross is repeat customers.

 

That is what I meant by my perception of my worth to the company. In other words, my worth is based on the fact that I can continue getting the work without really trying (other than working hard to keep them happy with our service).

 

Perhaps that is sales of another sort? I would ask (to pick your brain), how do you perceive selling and what ways of persuasion do you find most successful?

Selling a product verses a service can be really different, or sometimes not so different, depending on what product and service you're comparing, at least for me. I've sold mostly products, especially industrial products, but also industrial repair services, and I don't perceive much of a difference there. In that case, I'm selling to a maintenance engineer/supervisor/skilled tradesman, and the goal for them is something that's going to make their job easier.

 

On the other hand, I had problems selling janitorial services verses janitorial supplies.

 

As far as word-of-mouth and referrals, hell yes - that is not only a form of sales, it's one of the best sales techniques out there. A referral is a personal testimonial from a happy customer that you guys are taking care of the customer's specific needs. That can be more effective than any ad/marketing budget.

 

The kind of service you provide is a hard one for you, as the service provider, to quantify if you don't get feedback from your customers. The selling process for you, in getting new customers, starts with looking at your "success stories" objectively, getting feedback from your customers on what their problems were before engaging your company and how you solved whatever problem they had. Then get all these "success stories" written down, and use that information to look at your marketplace for similar prospects you aren't selling to yet, and using your "success stories" as a selling tool. You use those "success stories" to show the prospect what the potential value you bring to them.

 

Does that answer help, or was I as clear as mud?

[No_Fear]

Staying on Topic

 

 

Interesting Reading:

 

 

http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2008/01/obama-...sed-by-far.html

[sprinter]

Bush and Obama seem to have something else in common. George Bush call it a "god dam* piece of paper" and now Obama says it's deeply flawed.

 

[No_Fear]

Back On Topic - Another good reason not to vote for Obama

 

February 28, 2008

Mona Charen

The National Review

 

Many politicians have distanced themselves from positions and associations of their youths. But in Obama’s case, he is distancing himself from positions staked out as recently as 2003. As National Review Online has reported, the Los Angeles Times is apparently sitting on a videotape showing Obama’s remarks at a farewell dinner that year for Rashid Khalidi, the one-time PLO spokesman who now heads the Middle East Studies Department at Columbia. (Columbia University’s shame is a subject for another column.)

 

Khalidi is not distancing himself from his past. Consistent with what you’d expect from someone who justified PLO attacks on civilians in Israel and Lebanon from 1976 to 1982, Khalidi routinely refers to Israel as a “racist” and “apartheid” state, and professes to believe in a “one-state” solution to the conflict. Guess which country would have to disappear for that “one” state to come into existence?

 

The Khalidis and Obamas were good friends. In his capacity as a director of the Woods Fund, Obama in 2001 and 2002 steered $75,000 to the Arab American Action Network, the brainchild of Rashid and Mona Khalidi. According to an L.A. Times account of the dinner, Obama mentioned that he and Michelle had been frequent dinner guests at the Khalidi home (just another guy in the neighborhood?) and that the Khalidis had even baby-sat for the Obama girls.

 

Like William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, the Khalidis held a fundraiser for Obama in their living room when he unsuccessfully sought a House seat. At the farewell dinner, according to the L.A. Times, Obama apparently related fondly his “many talks” with the Khalidis. Perhaps that’s where he learned, as he told the Des Moines Register, that “Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people.” Obama told the crowd that those talks with the Khalidis had been “consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots. . . . It’s for that reason that I’m hoping that, for many years to come, we continue that conversation — a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid’s dinner table” but around “this entire world.”

 

Even less attention has been paid to the man Obama appointed as his emissary to the Muslim community in the U.S., Mazen Asbahi. Asbahi, it turned out, had ties to the Islamic Society of North America, which in turn was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case. The Holy Land Foundation was accused of being a front group for Hamas. When news of these associations became public, Asbahi resigned from the campaign to “avoid distracting from Barack Obama’s message of change.” And don’t forget hope!

 

Many American Jews preparing to pull the lever for Obama have never heard of Asbahi. But they surely know about Jeremiah Wright. They know that he gave a “lifetime achievement” award to Louis Farrakhan; that he supported efforts to get U.S. businesses to divest from Israel; that he gave space in the Trinity Church bulletin to Hamas; and that he has accused Israel of “genocide” against the Palestinians. They are preparing to vote for a man who tamely tolerated all of that (and more) for 20 years.

[Bored of Pisteon]

Even in today's (10/28) Chicago tribune... One columnist is outlining 8 reasons why Obama wlll lose!

 

Read here: Chicago Tribune (10/28)

[Deanh]

Even in today's (10/28) Chicago tribune... One columnist is outlining 8 reasons why Obama MIGHT lose!

 

Read here: Chicago Tribune (10/28)

fixed

[RaZor]

On the other hand. . .

 

A Pew Research poll released on Tuesday reveals that the Arizona Republican is not only trailing substantially (19 percent) among early voters, but faces political obstacles that seem downright insurmountable. Despite devoting countless airtime and speeches towards distancing himself from George W. Bush, more people today believe McCain would be an extension of the current administration's policies than they did just one week ago.

 

All I know is . . . I'll be damn glad when it's over. I am SICK, SICK, SICK of this whole campaign/election thing

[Bored of Pisteon]

What about Khalidi?

 

LINK

[sprinter]

Nice guy obama. How much money does he and his wife make? And he lets auntie live in the slums. At least he could hire her for a housekeeper. Obama the American press golden boy

 

 

 

 

Found in a rundown Boston estate: Barack Obama’s aunt Zeituni Onyango

'Auntie Zeituni', who, with Uncle Omar, dropped out of sight after moving to the US, is backing the presidential candidate from her modest flat

 

Barack Obama has lived one version of the American Dream that has taken him to the steps of the White House. But a few miles from where the Democratic presidential candidate studied at Harvard, his Kenyan aunt and uncle, immigrants living in modest circumstances in Boston, have a contrasting American story.

 

Zeituni Onyango, the aunt so affectionately described in Mr Obama’s best-selling memoir Dreams from My Father, lives in a disabled-access flat on a rundown public housing estate in South Boston.

 

A second relative believed to be the long-lost “Uncle Omar” described in the book was beaten by armed robbers with a “sawed-off rifle” while working in a corner shop in the Dorchester area of the city. He was later evicted from his one-bedroom flat for failing to pay $2,324.20 (£1,488) arrears, according to the Boston Housing Court.

 

 

The US press has repeatedly rehearsed Mr Obama’s extraordinary odyssey, but the other side of the family’s American experience has only been revealed in parts. Just across town from where Mr Obama made history as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, some of his closest blood relatives have confronted the harshness of immigrant life in America.

 

In his book Mr Obama writes that “Uncle Omar” had gone missing after moving to Boston in the 1960s – a quarter-century before Mr Obama first visited his family in Kenya. Aunt Zeituni is now also living in Boston, and recently made a $260 campaign contribution to her nephew's presidential bid from a work address in the city.

 

Speaking outside her home in Flaherty Way, South Boston, on Tuesday, Ms Onyango, 56, confirmed she was the “Auntie Zeituni” in Mr Obama’s memoir. She declined to answer most other questions about her relationship with the presidential contender until after the November 4 election. “I can’t talk about it, I just pray for him, that’s all,” she said, adding: “After the 4th, I can talk to anyone.”

 

A photograph of Ms Onyango was later shown to George Hussein Onyango, Barack Obama’s half-brother in Nairobi, who confirmed that it was their aunt. George Onyango, 26, the youngest child of Barack Obama Sr, said that he had spent weekends with his Aunt Zeituni when he was growing up, and instantly recognised her.

 

George Onyango said that his aunt had left for the US about eight years ago but sent him e-mails. “She left to find work and I suppose she thought her life would be better there,” he said. “She was kind and caring.”

 

In his memoir Mr Obama describes the joy of meeting his father’s family during his first visit to Kenya in 1988. Aunt Zeituni, then a computer programmer at Kenya Breweries in Nairobi, is portrayed as a feisty woman who proclaims herself “the champion dancer”. Uncle Omar, by contrast, remains a mysterious figure who left for America and never came back. At one point in the book a half-sister tells Mr Obama that people “like our Uncle Omar, in Boston” move to the West.

 

“They promise to return after completing school. They say they’ll send for the family once they get settled. At first they write once a week. Then it’s just a month. Then they stop writing completely. No one sees them again.”

[BlackHorse]

She declined to answer most other questions about her relationship with the presidential contender until after the November 4 election. “I can’t talk about it, I just pray for him, that’s all,” she said, adding: “After the 4th, I can talk to anyone.”

 

Red flag!!!!!!

 

There's too many people around this guy that "can't say anything" or "can't release that video until after the election". He ranks a 9.5 on my "dudes hiding something" meter.