| Vow Of Silence?
Once upon a time there was a man who grew weary of his life and his job and the world in general. He needed a fresh start so he joined a monastery, where he chose to take a vow of silence. Every 10 years though, he would be allowed to speak only two words.
The first 10 long and silent years passed for the man. Then the elders at the monastery brought him into their council room and asked him for his two words.
"Cold room," said the man. The elders nodded and dismissed the man. Ten more long years passed and again the elders summoned the man to speak his two words. This time he said, "terrible food." Again the elders nodded and dismissed the man.
Another long 10 years passed and the man stood once again in front of the elders in the council room. His two words?
"I quit!"
"The elders looked at each other for a moment and then the head elder replied, "That doesn't surprise us one bit. All you've done for the last 30 years is complain!" | |
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Networking Tip |
Theresa Carter
StayNTouch Marketing
Relationship Marketing |
Four Ways to Ask For Business
The one sure way to get more business is to ask for it. Here are the first four easy ways to ask for more business
1. The next time a customer tells you how great you are, ask them if they know anyone else who could benefit from working with you. Tell them exactly what kind of new customers you are looking for, and they will be better able to help your business grow.
2. Change the signature of your emails to ask for referrals: "We Love Referrals" or "Our business has been built on word of mouth and referrals. If you know a business that could use our services, please let us know." It's a subtle yet effective reminder to those people you email. (Note: If you don't know what an email signature is, talk to your computer professional (or your kids!)
3. Add something similar to your business cards, invoices and stationery. One business I know had red stickers made up with white lettering that read "We Love Referrals" and stuck them on invoices, brochures, and the backs of business cards.
4. When you do a favor for someone, they often will ask how they can help you. Tell them you are looking for new customers, and be specific about who you want to meet.
If you institute one or all of these suggestions into your daily routine, you will get more business. All you have to do is ask for it!
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Remember, if you want to get all the Referrals you can handle, SendOutCards! |
| Quick Links |
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Networking in the Area
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PC MedEvac Hours of Operation |
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At our Shoppe location located at 139 East Chatham, Suite 100, Downtown Cary, our hours of operation are:
Monday thru Friday:
8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Saturday:
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
We suggest you always call first as technicians may be out of the shoppe for field work or emergency calls.
919.369.7800
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| Postal Increase
May 12th |
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It seems like it just happened, but get our your pennies, it will cost more for a stamp in May.
The United States Postal Service says it will raise stamp rates by one cent on May 12th. That will make your grand total per letter 42 cents.
You can still buy the Forever stamps online, which locks in a 41 cent rate for life. The postal service hasn't said how long it will sell those stamps, though. |
| Remember Mother's Day |
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Mother's Day is May 11th, have you sent a card yet? If not, click here, and "Send A Free Card"
This is a real card, with a real envelope and a real stamp!
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Looking For A New House Or Apartment But Don't Want To Get A Realtor Involved Yet?
Free Google Real Estate Search Does Everything A Realtor Can Do For You, But Faster, Cheaper, And Without The Annoying Phone Calls
Looking for a new house or apartment can sometimes be a daunting task. Finding a realtor, narrowing down the abundant amount of properties for sale in today's market, and investigating the surrounding neighborhoods can take a lot of time and energy that none of us seem to have anymore.
To make things even more frustrating, until now there's been no central place to sort through all the property listings for sale. Going to a specific realtor's web site usually shows only the properties they have listed for sale and not all of the available properties in the area.
Enter Google, the king of searching the web, that now offers you a way to search for real estate and get a ton of other convenient data right at your fingertips during your search. A Google real estate search will show you on a live Google map the location of the property, the surrounding community, and with a few simple clicks you can add important features you'd like to see like schools, major roads, and even pizza places.
To get started point your web browser to www.google.com and then click on Maps. Then click on My Maps. In the box below it will list Featured Searches. Put a check mark in the "Google Real Estate Search" box. A new dialog box will open asking you to put in common search parameters like location, price range, number of bath and bedrooms and any keywords like "cul de sac" or "horse property."
Once you conduct a search you'll be given the results of your search on the left hand side and an interactive map on the right. You can click on any property listed on the left hand column and Google will map the property. Clicking on the listing will take you directly to the listing realtor's website. Best of all these searches will include data from all available realtors and sources instead of just one or two specific realtors. In some cases Google will even search public records for properties in foreclosure, etc.
Click on a property you're interested in and Google will draw it on an interactive map. A balloon showing the pertinent facts will be displayed too. Look closely and near the bottom of the balloon there will be a clickable link that says Search Nearby. Click on this link and you can type in Grade Schools, Pizza Places, Health Clubs or anything else that you'd like to find out and Google will re-draw the map and show you the location of the other things you're interested in. |
Computer Comfort Club
You Asked - We Listened
In March we announced the Computer Comfort Club for small networks. We had such a huge response we removed the 5 computer limit and extended the benfits down to SINGLE computers. You get the same monitoring, remote access and response as our high end business clients on our QRS services.
- 1 free in shop service (no limits)
- 4 free remote jobs over 12 months
- remote and onsite work
- 1 Free Image based backup
- Discounts service fees for Shoppe, Remote and On-Site work
- Extended benefits to "Friends and Family"
We provide remote monitoring, reporting and basic patch management and more Total Piece of mind. Sleep well knowing we will know about the problems before they become disasters
All for $45 per month per computer. Installation is covered during anyservice call
To learn more about CCS and about how we can help you get a hassle-free computers and networks, call me direct at 919-369-7800, or email comfortclub@pcmedevac.com |
Rebate Alert: Don't Get Ripped Off
The offers are irresistible but misleading; retailers advertise after-rebate prices on hardware and software to grab your attention and get you to buy. But are you really getting the bargain you expected?
They're Counting On You To Forget
According to the NPD Group, a global market research firm, almost one-third of all computer products and twenty percent of all consumer electronics are sold with a rebate. Manufacturers use rebates as an easy way to offer discounts without actually having to take the full financial hit; that's because thirty to fifty percent of the buyers never attempt to redeem them and therefore end up paying full price for the merchandise.
Get Ready To Jump Through Multiple Hoops
To further tip the scales in their favor of not having to pay out, some manufacturers and retailers are imposing impossible restrictions, complicating the process to request a rebate, delaying payments, and creating other barriers that make it difficult to get your money. All of these are delay tactics to get you to give up on the idea of getting your rebate out of frustration.
New Laws Protect You
With consumer complaints to the FTC and Better Business Bureau piling up, regulators have tightened the rules around advertising rebates.
Last year, the Federal Trade Commission settled its first dispute with a Dallas-based CompUSA store for knowingly advertising rebates from computer peripherals manufacturer Qps Inc., even though they knew this manufacturer wasn't fulfilling on the rebates advertised.
After this settlement, CompUSA was not only required to advertise the time frame for securing the rebates advertised, but also had to take financial responsibility for any rebates not paid during the promised time frame.
Event though the government is on your side, getting stuck in the middle of a rebate war is very frustrating and a huge waste of time. If you are going to try to cash in on a rebate, here are some tips that will help.
5 Tips To Collecting Your Promised Rebate
1. Follow the rebate instructions carefully. Many manufacturers will reject a rebate over a tiny technicality. That means reading the small print and following the instructions to the letter.
2. Make a copy of all the paperwork, receipts, and documents before mailing them off. Some manufacturers may request the original receipt; if you mail in your only copy, you could be out of luck if it gets "lost" in the mail. Which brings me to tip #3...
3. Mail your rebate via certified mail to have proof of delivery.
4. Schedule a reminder to yourself to call the company if your rebate doesn't show up within the time frame promised. Most companies will have a web site or toll-free number to call to track your rebate.
5. If the manufacturer rejects your rebate or is holding your check, let them know you plan on contacting the FTC or the BBB. Ask the people you speak to for their names and ask to speak to their supervisor.
As a final word of advice, only purchase things you can afford without the rebate
TIP: Rebates Often Take Months To Process So Be Prepared For The Wait! |
FREE Report:
"What Every Business Owner MUST Know About Protecting And Preserving Their Critical Data!"
If You Depend On Your Computer Network To Run Your Business, This Is One Report You DON'T Want To Overlook!
This report will outline in plain, non-technical English common mistakes that many small business owners make with their computer network that cost them thousands in lost sales, productivity, and computer repair bills, as well as providing an easy, proven way to reduce or completely eliminate the financial expense and frustration of these oversights.
You'll Discover:
¨ The single most expensive mistake most small business owners make when it comes to protecting their company data.
¨ The universal misconception business owners have about their computer networks, and how it can end up costing between $9,000 to as much as $60,000 in damages.
¨ 6 critical security measures every small business should have in place.
¨ How to greatly reduce - or even completely eliminate - frustrating crashes, slow performance, and other annoying computer problems.
Get Your Free Copy Now:
freereport@pcmedevac.com |
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No More XP
Businesses Beware. Old relaible Windows XP is going away
Sure we swear at it from time to time but you have to admit XP has been a great operating system. However Mocrosoft will pull the plug on new purchases of XP effective July 1, 2008
Retail licenses
Until July 1st retailers can order shrink-wrapped boxes of new XP licenses and upgrade licenses to sell to customers like you. Chances are these last licenses will sell out quickly after the June 30 order cutoff.
Also until July 1, you can buy XP licenses online from Microsoft but not after that date.
OEM licenses
Today, people who have already bought Vista systems have two choices to get XP . One is to buy a retail XP license before June 30 and install it over Vista.
The other is to "downgrade" to XP Professional, using an XP Pro install disc you already have or a "downgrade" XP Pro install disc supplied by the PC maker. Essentially, Microsoft lets you use your new Vista license for an XP Pro install. You have such "downgrade rights," however, only if you bought Vista Business or Vista Ultimate.
After the cutoff of July 1, 2008 system builders may still install Windows XP Pro (not Home) on users' systems, but only for orders of 25 or more PCs. In this case, the systems must come with a Vista Business or Ultimate license, which is then transferred to the XP Pro install. Essentially, you're buying a Vista PC that the OEM can then put XP Pro on instead, using the Vista license to activate XP Pro. (Again, the OEMs don't have to provide this option.)
If you buy fewer than 25 PCs in an order, the builder can install only Vista. You can still get XP Pro on those PCs, if they came with Vista Business or Ultimate. Those two Vista versions include the "downgrade rights" that let you apply the Vista license to your XP Pro installation. You can use your existing XP Pro install discs or get an XP "downgrade" disc from the PC maker (if it wants to supply it). Remember that "downgrade rights" are not available in OEM licenses for other versions of Vista, and they do not let you install XP Home.
What happens to existing licenses
Organizations can continue to use any Windows XP licenses they have indefinitely, even after the OS is no longer available for new licenses.
For technical support and updates, Microsoft will end mainstream support for XP on April 14, 2009, for most editions, and it will end extended support on April 8, 2014. So if you have it keep it, If you need it Stock up.
This is very important for companies who have Expansive LOB (Line of Business) Applications (like CRM or Autocad) whose budegts do not permit the aquisition of a new $15,000 to $120,000 application just to run a single new Vista computer.
More questions? Just give us a call and we can talk about your specific situation. 919.369.7801 | |
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We hope you enjoy our monthly newsletter and will forward it to anyone you think would benefit from our service by scrolling to the bottom and clicking on "forward email"
PC MedEvac will be closed on May 26th for Memorial Day
Sincerely,
Matt Carter
PC MedEvac
919.369.7801
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