How to Seal Brick and Other Masonry Buildings
January 16, 2012 | 
Author 
Water entering a masonry substrate can cause your home to have interior leaks or exterior staining, spalling and efflorescence. Usually the masonry substrate can absorb the liquid water and release it again when it stops raining. However, the masonry could still have staining and efflorescence.
In modern home construction, masonry is used as a veneer. That is, homes and buildings that have brick, stone, stucco or some other masonry exterior are traditional wood or steel buildings on the inside. The veneer is just a cosmetic look. Therefore, improper building practices can cause leaks into the house or around windows and doors. At the more extreme circumstance, improper building practices can cause the structure of the building to become damaged due to water.
Efflorescence
Efflorescence is the whitish staining that is seen on the surface of brick and masonry. This is actually the accumulation of salts from the brick itself. What happens is that the water inside of the brick dissolves the natural salts that are present from the manufacturing of the brick. Then the water evaporates to the surrounding air, leaving the salts on the surface to be seen.
Spalling
Spalling is when the brick or masonry substrate flakes. This can be caused by water freezing inside of the brick and expanding. The expansion causes the brick to break and flake.
Now, to waterproof brick or masonry it must be sealed against water penetration. But be careful. A surface sealer such as acrylics, silicones or epoxies can actually trap water vapor from the inside of the building from getting out. As mentioned before, this can cause spalling.
Brick pavers and concrete sidewalks or driveways come under attack from deicing salts. These salts do extensive damage to the substrate. By sealing the surface, the salts will not be able to do damage to the substrates.
The best way to waterproof and seal a brick or other masonry substrate is with a penetrating siloxane based sealer. The siloxane actually penetrates into the masonry substrate and chemically bonds to it. This fills the pores and prevents liquid water from penetrating. However, siloxanes are 100% breathable. So water vapor from the interior can still escape from the brick. This will reduce spalling.
Siloxanes have the added benefit of not coloring or darkening the substrate. They are clear and do not leave a glossy sheen. Since siloxanes penetrate the masonry and are not on the surface, the original texture of the surface is maintained. And the penetration into the masonry substrate actually protects them from the elements. They will be long lived and give years of maintenance free performance.
Top Ten House Alarm and Home Security Devices
A man’s home is his castle, as the saying goes. But homes today don’t normally feature ramparts, drawbridges, moats and six-foot thick stone walls to keep out unwanted visitors. Today, a house alarm, and preferably a managed home security system, is needed to ensure your home’s security. Not only does installing a home security system improve the safety of your family and possessions, but it can also decrease your home insurance costs. The Top Ten House Alarm and Home Security Devices list highlights ten devices and features of home security systems that can make your house a safer place.
The Top Ten
10. Talking Devices help you to understand the status of your home and monitoring as well as program the system. Some security systems feature talking master control panels, key pads or remotes. The talking feature may not result in great conversation, but it will help you understand your system a little better.
9. Some home alarm systems include extras like Key Fobs and Remotes to control the system at a distance. Somewhat similar to a car’s key fob, home security key fobs include buttons to activate and deactivate the house alarm system. Some even include a “panic” button that activates the house alarm and alerts the proper authorities in the event of an emergency. Remote controls are similar and often larger. The features of remotes vary greatly and can include a full key pad, a talking feature and a panic button as well.
8. Yard Signs and House or Window Decals advertise your home’s protection. The Greenwich Study of Residential Security found that homes without alarms were 2.7 to 3.5 times more likely to be burglarized, and that the most effective deterrent was the alarm monitoring company’s yard sign (SIA Research Update, Security Industry Association, October 2001). Some choose to post the signs to deter possible break-ins without actually installing a home alarm system. While this effort will lower the odds of an attempted burglary, a yard sign alone cannot fully protect your home.
7. A Back-Up Power Supply is important in maintaining home security even during a power outage, when the risk of break-ins and looting is increased. Your home alarm should be effective even when your power is not. The easiest to maintain back-up power supplies use standard size batteries. Look for a model that uses rechargeable batteries to lower your maintenance costs.
6. Smoke Detectors add another layer of protection to your home, especially when they are integrated into the home alarm system. Not only do smoke detectors indicate a fire and give you time to escape safely, but when included in a home security package, they automatically notify the managing company and the fire department. Some systems even integrate the power supply to the smoke detectors. That means you don’t have to change the batteries ever!
5. Wireless Systems protect your home without adding extra cords to trip over or extensive installation of in-wall cords. In wireless house alarm systems, each sensor or keypad communicates with the master control panel via radio frequencies or existing wiring in your home. A burglar will never be able to disarm the system by snipping the wires. This ensures the system is fully integrated and monitoring all parts of your home without using up your outlets or creating an obstacle course of wires for you.
4. Extra Key Pads are also important. Exterior mounted key pads can provide secure keyless entry to your family. Some systems also offer remote control key pads which are lightweight and portable. A home alarm system that features a security code with a key pad increases the security of your home. A monitored system can also lock down entry after several repeated, failed attempts at entry which indicate a possible break-in attempt.
3. Key pads may not always be enough to keep burglars out. Sensors on Windows and Doors reduce the risk of a burglar entering undetected and are a key part of a home alarm system. Motion Detectors within the home also increase the level of security. The most sophisticated motion detectors include a feature to ignore pets’ movement to avoid constantly setting the alarm off inadvertently.
2. Installation, Monitoring, and Repair Services increase not only the level of safety but the convenience of keeping your home safe. A house alarm alone cannot notify the police or fire department in the event of an emergency. The most complete systems include buttons to notify police departments, fire departments and medical help instantly. Another advantage offered by the best monitoring companies is live customer support and full service installation and repair of the system by employees who have been background checked, licensed and drug tested to ensure your safety. Finally, some companies even offer relocation services to keep you secure even when you move.
1. The classic Master Control Panel is vital to any home alarm system. The central hub of the system, the control panel is usually wall-mounted in an easily accessible place. The panel receives information from all other sensors and key pads, computes it, and transmits relevant information to the monitoring company. If you choose to arm the system from the panel when you leave the house, the master control panel also receives the disarm code when you return home. Some can even be disarmed by telephone!
Of course, this list is not comprehensive, and the needs of every home and homeowner are different. For more tips on choosing the right home alarm system and features to protect your house, I recommend visiting alarmoneinc.com.
Top 25 Undergraduate Schools
With competition rising fiercely for admission into a good undergraduate school and the choice of subjects, school curriculum expanding with it, choosing the best undergraduate school can be confusing. There are large, small, public, private, urban and rural undergraduate schools to select from; while some are appealing because of their inviting locale in a countryside setting or in the midst of a cosmopolitan setting others lure the students with their state-of-the-art facilities and distinguished host of teachers.
The list of top 25 undergraduate schools listed below have many diverse traits and distinct characteristics, however the common thread running through them is that of the promise of the best education ever. The undergraduate school curriculum of these top 25 schools is unparalleled and makes them stand apart as the institutions of great learning.
Best Ivy undergraduate school
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut Yale president Richard Levin is a leader and a visionary and has been tireless in his efforts to change ED admissions policies, making it a one of the many reasons for it being the vied for the number one position and topping the student’s list for admissions. A big attraction of the undergraduate experience for students is the residential-college system. Students live in one of twelve colleges, each with its own distinct personality, under the guidance of a master and a dean.
Best School for Entrepreneurs
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.
Six of the campus’s 10 undergraduate schools offer entrepreneurship courses. The Smeal College of Business and the College of Engineering are the most natural partners, with joint programs to show engineers how to run businesses and to teach business students the latest technology. Hotel-management students operate two on-campus hotels and conference centres where they’re involved in everything from food service to staffing the front desk while the College of Communications focuses on entrepreneurship in the Information Age.
Big 10 School – Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill
Comprising of six undergraduate schools, Northwestern University attracts students with diverse aspirations including budding actors, journalists, engineers and teachers as well as a host of liberal-arts students. Each school is world renown and attracts the best minds from across the globe. Set in Evanston at the edge of the bustling Cosmo polis of Chicago, Northwestern offers its students the best of both worlds.
Best Architectural School – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
President Charles Vest initiated an ambitious $1 billion construction program at MIT which includes the Steven Holl’s Simmons Hall, a aluminium-clad dormitory as well as the Fumihiko Maki’s expansion of the Media Lab. The more famous building is that of the Stata Center, a computer-science landmark by Frank Gehry containing labs for the “intelligence sciences” and connected corridors and public spaces to encourage spontaneous collaboration. MIT calls it an “intellectual village.”
Best school of for Arts – Juilliard School, New York, N.Y.
With a history of more than a hundred years, Julliard is known as one the most famous undergraduate school of arts and can boast of an impressive alumni list the likes of the actor Kevin Kline, violinist Itzhak Perlman and choreographer Lar Lubovitch. To celebrate this glory, the school has introduced new choreography, productions and performances. Only a few select students comprising of musicians, dancers and actors get chosen every year to showcase their talent in the Juilliard Theatre right next to Lincoln Centre. That’s the best inspiration for any aspiring star.
Best Library- Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Harvard’s library system ranks with the best of any kind in the country, even as compared to the Library of Congress. The collection which includes more than 15 million volumes, 5.5 million microforms, 6.5 million manuscripts and 5 million other research materials such as photographs, maps and recordings is the largest in the world. Harvard’s digital collection is particularly strong, and is hugely beneficial for students who want access to any existing online journal
Best Riding School – Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia
Situated in the breathtaking locale of Virginia’s horse country, Hollins undergraduate school is known for its exceptional training for equestriennes. The school is a regular winner of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship, and the Hollins team has won ten times in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association. Although many Hollins students work with horses after graduation as trainers, riders or veterinarians, the school also offers a strong liberal-arts program and a highly regarded creative-writing curriculum. It is famous for its celebrity alumni the likes of Margaret Wise Brown, Annie Dillard and Lee Smith.
Best undergraduate school for diversity-Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut
Dean of Admissions Nancy Meislahn believes that only a large cross section of society from across the globe can contribute to the intellectual diversity of an educational system. Wesleyan’s student population comprises of one third coloured people and 7% international students. An additional 15% are the first in their family to attend a four-year college. It offers a huge diversity of shared learning and wide range of perspective to the classroom.
Best Tech Savvy School – Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H
This undergraduate school has been in the forefront of technological revolution ever since professors John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz, forty years ago, not only realized the importance of computers but were responsible for creating the computer language BASIC. It is known to have the first e-mail programs and an early campus computer network. Dartmouth was also the first Ivy to install WiFi on campus. The school offers free software to students so they can turn their laptops into telephones using the school’s WiFi.
Best Fitness School – University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
Following the adage of Thomas Jefferson, the founder of UVA, who advocated that a strong body makes the mind strong, UVA offers both varsity competitors and weekend warriors some of the best fitness facilities in the country. Students benefit hugely from the four indoor recreation centres, which together make up 300,000 square feet of pools, running tracks, weight rooms and classrooms for yoga and kickboxing. The school also maintains a 23-acre park for outdoor field sports and jogging.
Best Honor Code – Haverford College, Haverford, Pa.
The honor code is central to the college’s values and includes every aspect of academic and social life. Rob Killion, Director of Admissions says that the founder, Haverford expects people to learn from one another, debate and argue with one another–but to do so respectfully. It is an academically rigorous liberal-arts college that advocates take-home and non-supervised exams as well as students living in dorms, without resident advisers
Best school for studying abroad – Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts
The mission at Tufts is simple – to teach students to be world citizens. Tufts likes students who want to study abroad which translates into a strong language requirement, and a chance to learn a new culture in one of Tufts’s own centres in countries like Germany, Chile, China or Ghana. About 40% of Tufts juniors are travelling across the world during the academic year.
Best School for Politics – George Washington University, Washington, D.C
With a campus close to the World Bank and a stone’s throw away from the White House, GWU is a dream college for every Political Science major. Many of the professors are consultants to top government officials thus bringing a real, practical and intelligent perspective to the classroom. The school also encourages internships at government agencies, think tanks and advocacy organizations.
Best school for Double Majors – Rice University, Houston, Texas
Rice allows its students to explore their passions and requires them to commit to their majors only in the Junior Year unlike most schools who ask for it in the Sophomore Year. With an ambitious student body, many of them go for double majors. The most common combination is science and humanities. The school is best known for its engineering and science curriculum, but the social sciences are also becoming strong.
Best school for Greeks with brains- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich
Michigan is known for its multi-disciplinary approach including everything from music to medicine. A good eclectic mix of academics and a lively social life, it offers its students everything. About 15% of undergrads go Greek, which students say helps them find a friendlier community within the vast student population. Fraternities and sororities are especially popular with the many out-of-state students.
Best school for Hot and Dry – Pomona College, Claremont, Calif.
Pomona is one of five colleges of the Claremont University where students experience the best of both worlds – the academically challenging environment of a small New England liberal-arts college with year-round California sunshine. A combination that is attractive and motivating, the applications are up by almost 30% in the last few years. Students also can explore the academic and social resources of the other Claremont colleges, including Pitzer, Harvey Mudd and Scripps. But none of the colleges will be tapping a keg during “dry week,” a tradition at the start of the year during wherein no alcohol is allowed on campus.
Best State University – University of Texas at Austin
Although University of Texas Austin has attained the distinction of a laid-back campus, it is no place for slackers. With 50,000 students (more than any other school in the country), UT boasts some of the nation’s best business, law and engineering schools. Besides football, it has 900 student organizations that should keep you going.
Best school for landing a job – Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa
Practical approach and hands-on experience is the most important part of life at Carnegie Mellon. The school has 12 programs including computer science, engineering and drama which are very famous. The school takes pride in being on the cutting edge in every field and encourages students to think about applying what they learn to the real world. About 70 percent of Carnegie Mellon students have a job offer when they graduate.
Best school for Health Careers – University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.
One of the top public universities in the US, UNC-Chapel Hill offers students a choice of more than 50 majors. But the main attraction for future doctors, nurses and other health professionals is the opportunity to study at a campus with all health disciplines in one place. The School of Nursing and the School of Public Health both have undergraduate programs. At the School of Medicine, undergrads can earn degrees in radiology science or clinical laboratory practice.
Best school for Individualists – Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio
Oberlin comprises of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Conservatory of Music. It has a unique approach to life and learning and the undergraduate school curriculum offers innovative subject matter like – Death and the Art of Dying, American Mixed Blood, and Destination: L.A. The student-run Experimental College lets undergraduates teach courses of their own creation, like Making Your Own Mobile or Mythology and Epic Storytelling in “Lord of the Rings.” This eccentricity is very rewarding and Oberlin graduates have more Ph.D.s than alumni of any other liberal-arts college.
Best school for city haters – Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
Cornell’s rural, upstate New York campus is bounded by deep gorges, spectacular scenery and a beautiful rural setting. However, it has one of the most rigorous and challenging curriculum that draws only the best minds. The school’s greatest attraction is its academic diversity, with top-ranked undergraduate schools of engineering, arts and sciences, architecture, hotel administration, industrial and labour relations, agriculture and human ecology.
Best school for city lovers – New York University, New York, N.Y.
With the Olsen twins Mary-Kate and Ashley lending NYU some of its fame, it is a school loved by the urban and the hip. Despite the 9/11 catastrophe, it continues to draw crowds of talented students. One of the top attractions is the Tisch School of the Arts, which nurtures future actors, dancers and screenwriters. The business school is also highly rated, and students can take advantage of internships on Wall Street. The campus of NYU is not structured in the strictest sense; in fact buildings scattered throughout the Greenwich Village, most students like to believe that they have the whole city as the campus to explore.
Best Military School – U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.
The four-year undergraduate curriculum at Annapolis is tough and technically oriented, with core requirements in engineering, natural sciences, humanities and social sciences. Traditions play a huge part in campus life. “When you first show up for classes in the fall, students begin counting down the number of days until the Army-Navy game,” says Cmdr. Tim Disher, admissions officer. Graduates become commissioned officers in the Navy or the Marine Corps.
Best undergraduate school for scholarships – Berea College, Berea, Ky.
The 1,500 students at Berea come from families with average household incomes of only $30,000, and 80% have grown up in southern Appalachia, a region that spans nine states with some of the most remote and poor rural communities in the country. Berea’s mission is unique in that it believes in promoting education by giving scholarships to the poor but deserving. All students get full-tuition scholarships, although they do have to pay for their room, board and books. However, scholarships are available for those as well. Students are required to work–many of them at jobs on campus that help to keep Berea’s costs down.
Best Surf and Ski School – University of California, Santa Barbara
It is known to be the most beautiful campus located at the edge of the Pacific. UCSB also boasts Nobel Prize winners on its faculty, top research centres in science and technology and an extensive study-abroad program. Aside from the top academics, the various recreation programs offered attract many of the students. The campus has its own beaches where students can surf, and the Big Bear ski resort is just a few hours’ drive away.
10 Interesting Facts About Costa Rica
While you might know that Costa Rica is a small country in the southern portion of Central America, you may not realize the rich history that abounds there, or the ecologically diverse wildlife living there, or the incredible number of sights to see.
Similar to the state of Florida in the U.S. geographically, it features two long coastlines as well as several tiny islands primarily located on the side of the Pacific Ocean. Costa Rica only spans a distance of approximately 200 miles in length and a mere 70 miles at its narrowest part occupying about 20,000 square miles in area.
Bordering the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Atlantic on the east, it is home to 20 national parks, eight biological reserves, and a plethora of protected areas teeming with fascinating and exotic flora and fauna. And, if you’re looking for adventure, in the northwestern portion of the country, the Guanacaste Province is chock full of stunning sights and exciting activities.
This area draws visitors by the droves thanks to its beaches, rivers, volcanoes, and waterfalls, not to mention all of the wildlife living here, some of which cannot be seen anywhere else in the world. Guanacaste, which derives its name from the native word for the guanacaste tree, quahnacaztlan, is the national tree of Costa Rica and this particular region is the driest in all of the country receiving less than a scant 55 inches of rain per year.
There are only has two seasons, dry or wet, and unlike many other areas of Central and South America, stays pleasant all year long.
High season, or the dry season, is from December through April, and green or wet season lasts from May to November. The tropical climate of Costa Rica averages about 72 degrees Fahrenheit although it can be considerably hotter in the coastal or beach areas and much cooler in the mountainous regions.
10 Facts About Costa Rica
1. The capital of Costa Rica is San Jose, a city with just over one million in population.
2. It follows Central Standard Time or six hours behind Greenwich Mean Time and there is no daylight savings time in the country.
3. Bananas and coffee are the two primary agricultural exports from Costa Rica.
4. The most popular sport is soccer.
5. The democratic government of Costa Rica is the oldest of any Third World country and it is often referred to as “The Switzerland of the Americas.”
6. In 1986 the first Costa Rican/American, Franklin Ramón Díaz Chang, traveled to outer space aboard the space shuttle Columbia.
7. The current president of Costa Rica, Óscar Rafael de Jesús Arias Sánchez, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 due to his great efforts to promote peace throughout the Central Americas.
8. It claims five percent of the earth’s biodiversity, making it home to one of the richest ecosystems anywhere.
9. It boasts one of the world’s highest life expectancy rates at 77 years.
10. People from many other countries travel to it explicitly for receiving quality, low cost health care.
Bank Sales Management – 4 Steps to Boosting Sales of Corporate Finance-Capital Markets
With notable exceptions, commercial bank efforts to boost revenue by selling corporate finance and capital markets products to middle market have not met expectations. This, despite significant investments in investment banking capabilities, product training, and corporate finance training that have kept corporate finance teachers busy for several decades. Why is this? What can sales team leaders and market managers do?
Two Key Factors Reduced the Growth Rates for Capital Markets Capabilities
While the reasons for under-performance vary bank to bank, there are two universal themes. First, marketing strategies. The “service” organization (i.e. the capital markets group) and the field sales force did not mesh. The groups had different objectives and different compensation plans. Many sales people considered the investment bankers arrogant and transactional. The investment bankers considered the relationship managers dim-witted and antiquated. As a result, the two groups could not collaborate to define effective marketing strategies and to exchange the information each group needed to fully take advantage of opportunities.
Second, sales process. Bank sales managers took the view: “RMs are already talking to these companies. They can cross sell or refer opportunities for capital markets.” The sales managers did not see that customers don’t buy capital markets services the same way they buy more traditional bank products. Loans and other bank products have been sold through a “features/benefits/price” conversation. Capital markets products and services must be sold as if they are “professional services,” where ideas and professional competence are the primary value.
What will it take to close the gap? While much progress has been made, the most critical elements are:
1. better definition of market strategy and sales processes,
2. a new approach to training,
3. more focused sales management, and
4. a recognition and compensation philosophy that, at minimum, does not distract sales people from the task.
Better Definition of Market Strategy and Sales Processes
Market strategy, particularly target selection for each capital markets capability, is critical. Specialists and relationship managers must share a common understanding of “what a qualified prospect looks like” for each capital markets product or service. These definitions should be specific, for example: “Manufacturing companies with sales > $50 million who meet criteria for Bbb debt ratings and that are interest rate sensitive.” RMs must know these criteria for each of the opportunities they’re expected to find. These criteria enable RMs to plan their sales efforts and to forecast prospective business effectively. They also reduce the amount of “noise in the system” from opportunities that don’t deserve attention from scarce investment banker resources.
Crisp sales process definitions will help boost the number of opportunities identified and reduce effort expended in sales process. The field sales organizations and product specialists must define (for each product or service):
Sales process steps (from initial conversations through origination to the end of execution) respective roles in the sales process.
Hand-off points (as from RM to specialist and back again).
Information requirements for each service (what information RM or specialist passes to the other).
Service standards for response times to inquiries, lead times for presentations, and other sales support activities.
These definitions provide a framework for RMs and specialists to work together effectively, each knowing what they can expect from the other and when.
New Approach to Training and Sharing Information
To meet client expectations, bank training must prepare RMs for their roles in the sales processes (which differ by product or capability). Depending on the RMs’ roles in opportunity identification and selling, product training and sales training should be modified.
This is not a new problem. For example, in 1998, describing Merrill Lynch’s initial attempts to generate additional mergers and acquisition advisory business, Fortune magazine reported: “[Clients] wanted bankers who came to them steeped in knowledge of their industry and full of creative ideas…That was a problem for Merrill’s M&A bankers, who were generalists… Many bankers simply didn’t know enough about each of the industries to make provocative presentations…” (Fortune Magazine, April 27, 1998, page 138) Data provided by Greenwich Associates and other firms confirm that clients today expect the same from investment bankers and commercial bankers who want to provide the more strategic capital markets and corporate finance services.
Like Merrill, bank leaders now must make specific decisions around how they are organized and how their bankers are prepared to respond to these client expectations of advisors. The same logic applies in small business, middle market, and large corporate banking. Whether you’re offering M&A advice, Treasury Services, mutual funds, or debt financing, product training should be transformed into “customer training” to focus on:
Owner, CEO, or CFO issues and concerns.
The problems that the bank’s capabilities solve.
Questions that will help the RMs assess a customer’s goals and circumstances and draw conclusions about which investment bank capabilities are appropriate and what potential benefit will be created for the customer.
Answers to customer questions, including:
What does this do (explained in terms normal people can understand)?
When does this approach benefit a company like ours?
What are the alternatives?
Who have you done this for?
What will it cost and how long will it take?
Sales training should shift toward a professional services model in which the value comes from the expertise of team members, of which the RM is one. Clients want counsel from people who have been down particular roads before. They are looking for advisors who can take a view or a position about market conditions and other factors. Sales training should prepare RMs to probe these issues deeply and to offer opinions. RMs must be good representatives of the expertise that will later come from the capital markets professionals.
This begins with intimate customer knowledge. Generally speaking, RMs know their customers well at a transactional level – specific needs which the customer has decided to address. Generally, they do not know their customers well at the level needed to identify opportunities or capital market services. Key missing ingredients include:
Customer goals, strategies, policies and market positioning (which provide the context for proactive opportunity identification).
Ideas and strategies that are in “entering discussions” and have not moved to the “take action” stage.
Variables (such as commodity prices) that bring risk into the customer’ business.
The sales training must also teach the RMs to position the capital markets group’s capabilities and begin prescribing sales processes. Often, this will include the ability to describe “success stories” that demonstrate capabilities and market savvy.
Finally, make sure your RMs are receiving and reading information that they will need to discuss in sales calls and conversations over meals:
Capital markets activity (rates, players, deal structures, etc.) and current trends/opportunities.
Up-to-date information about internal processes, players, and methods.
More Focused Sales Management
Sales managers (from line-of-business head to sales team leader) must decide how their teams will “play the game.” Since all product suppliers in the bank are competing for sales force mind-share, the sales managers must set a strategy and priorities for sales force attention. With the basic direction and expectations set, there are several important goals for sales managers:
First Priority: Field Coaching
Get into the field to observe calls and to coach…even though you don’t have time.Sales management coaching disciplines drive sales results. If you want to identify more opportunities for capital markets and corporate finance, you have to increase the amount of time and attention you pay to them through your questions and through your time in the field. This is particularly true if you want RMs to do more than spot opportunities and toss them over the fence. If you want them to question deeply to reach the pain and the payoffs that will sell capital markets and corporate finance, you have to be there with them, and you have to model it.
Help the RMs learn to anticipate customer issues and present ideas by asking questions about customers’ plans and strategies and prompting them to anticipate needs and generate ideas. The main rule here is: You get what you ask about. If you ask about ideas and customer plans, you’ll get more of them. If you ask about loan renewals and administrative matters, that’s what you’ll get.
Use whatever information you have about products, internal processes, and success stories to drill and coach the RMs. To be confident speaking to business owners or senior officers, they have to master the language and the stories. Use sales meetings, time in the car or on the plane, or phone time to ask questions like: “How do you describe our private placement capabilities?”
Second Priority: Planning and Review
Create good sales process descriptions and measures so that you can accurately determine where RMs are working in the sales process. You should be able to say to an RM: “To be successful in your territory with capital markets, you need to identify 50 opportunities, make 30 idea presentations, submit 20 proposals, and close 15 deals with an average fee of $X”. This knowledge comes from tracking and studying RM activities so you know, for your market, what the guidelines are.
Help the RMs prioritize their accounts – which accounts should get the “financial advisor” treatment, which match the profiles of companies that would benefit from particular capital markets and corporate finance services.
Insist on planning – a 1-year territory business plan and account plans for the top 5 – 10 customers and 5 – 10 prospects. The planning will (1) help focus the RM’s time on accounts most likely to be productive and (2) help the RM think through customer’s goals, strategies, policies, and obstacles.
Review progress toward targets through:
Monthly business review meetings with RMs, to review their short term action items and forecasted business.
Quarterly account reviews, to revisit their one-year business plans and all account plans – where are we versus what we’d planned, why, and what do we need to do to close the gap?
A Supportive Recognition and Compensation Plan
The basic test we apply is: “Do no harm.” Relationship manager recognition and compensation plans are typically complex because of the large array of products and services available for sale and the impact on a bank’s balance sheet and income statement. Separate recognition and incentive compensation plans. The recognition plan should kick in for activities that drive sales. The compensation plan should kick in for sales results. Having said that, our “no harm” guidelines include:
Create a system of immediate and visible recognition to be awarded based on high quality completion of activities – capital markets or corporate finance opportunities identified, proposals submitted, and so on. You want to stimulate and recognize the activities that will ultimately lead to the results. Use personal notes, peer recognition in team meetings, circulation of good proposals to team members, and other techniques that call attention to both what was done and how it was done.
Establish incentive compensation plans that reward RMs for generating capital markets or corporate finance revenue. To shift RM attention toward certain capabilities, make some revenue count for more in the plan than other types of revenue. (Example: private placement fees might count for $1.25 per dollar of fee, while loan commitment fees might count for 80 cents per dollar of fee). DO NOT run sales contests based on product sales (numbers of installations or revenue by product). The dynamics of these approaches are completely counter to the “advisory” approach needed to position and sell capital markets and corporate finance services (and other bank products as well).
Establish incentives for retaining accounts. This compensates the RM for the time and risk associated with working accounts that are worth keeping but not, in a given year, big revenue generators.
Compensation and recognition plans must recognize that RMs must invest time to develop their knowledge, competence, and confidence with their customers’ circumstances and with the services they are representing. The plans must recognize the time RMs invest with their customers, learning far more about them than they had to learn when selling ZBA accounts, loans, or corporate trust services. The plans must recognize the risk the RMs take when selling these services; the risks to their compensation and sales production are higher for capital markets and corporate finance capabilities than they are for standard loans and operations-oriented products.
Summary
Sales management coaching drives sales results. To accelerate sales of capital markets and corporate finance products and services toward optimum levels:
Clarify market strategies and sales processes by product, including the specific roles and hand-off points for RMs and specialists.
Increase emphasis on “customer and industry” training. Make sure RMs see a constant flow of market information (about deals, rates, and market activity) that they need when they talk to customers.
Focus sales management attention and recognition on the activities that lead to the results you want (high sales of corporate finance and capital markets products). Field coaching and planning are the highest two priorities.
The Big Secret About NYC Apartment Rentals
The key to finding the right NYC apartment is… not your broker, not the free websites, not even having lots of money (although that helps). The key to finding the right apartment is both obvious and hidden inside you.
It can’t be the “free” apartment websites, such as craigslist.org, because…
The free websites don’t employ anyone to validate the truthfulness of their listings, nor does anyone remove a listing when the apartment has been rented. Many free listings are bait-and-switch come-ons posted by brokers or are total frauds run by unscrupulous con artists who take advantage of New York’s costly rental market.
The Associated Press released a story describing the problems with fraud on craigslist.org: “The New York section is now so rife with con artists that they may begin charging landlords to discourage illegitimate listings.” Always beware of the con artist’s creativity when you use a free website.
It can’t be newspaper classified ads because…
The old-fashioned method of using the real estate ads in the local paper is not as effective in New York as it is in other towns for two main reasons:
1 – In New York, most of the ads you’ll see are from brokers who will charge you a broker’s fee, or the apartments will be in very expensive buildings with high monthly rents where the owner will pay the broker to bring them a renter for their overpriced apartment.
2 – Most of the apartments listed will be off the market by the time you read the ads. Newspaper ads have a long “lead time,” that is, they must go to the paper several days ahead of the day they’ll actually be published. Apartments are rented very quickly in New York, and what’s available on the day the ads go to the newspaper can be very different from what’s available the day the paper is printed. Many ads are used by brokers to grab your attention so you’ll call and become their client, even if the apartment you’re calling about is no longer available (or was never available).
The Biggest Secret of All in Finding a Good Rental Apartment…
… is this: the right attitude. Have the right attitude and you’ll find the right place. Have the wrong attitude, and your hunt for an apartment can be difficult. But what do I mean by “the right attitude”?
To a landlord, renting apartments is a business, no more, no less. If you don’t pay the rent, the landlord loses money. If you damage the apartment, the landlord loses money by having to make repairs. If you’re a bad neighbor, the landlord can lose other tenants because of your behavior. For small landlords, it doesn’t take too many nonpaying or destructive or disruptive tenants to put their business in financial jeopardy.
The “right attitude” for you is to let the landlord know that you understand their business. Let the landlord know that paying the rent on time is of paramount importance to you. Let the landlord know you’ll be a good neighbor, and that you’ll take good care of their apartment. No troublemaker here!
You will also convey the right attitude by dressing well, by being polite to everyone you meet, and by being prepared with all of your necessary paperwork when you visit apartments. Take this advice, and you will be ahead of most renters.
There are more terrific tips and hints available to you in “Essential Guide for Smart Renters”. I know of no better free compilation of information about finding a rental apartment in New York City. Go take a look right now!
Surprising Weight Loss Tips
The body is an amazing machine. When we take good care of it, it repays use by working at its’ optimal level. Abuse it and you breakdown completely by feeling out of sorts. Worse still, when we always stuff our mouths with food without considering the nutritional value, our body retaliates by showing us where the excess food is going: our bellies.
You may be surprised to find several reasons why the weight loss tips you’ve gathered aren’t working as well as you’ve hoped. Maybe the weight loss tips are incomplete or maybe you just need a few more.
Three weight loss tips that will come as a surprise revolve around sleeping and eating. Lack of sleep leading to obesity may make you think hard before pulling another all-nighter. When you don’t plan for enough rest periods throughout the day, you often compensate for your fatigue by eating more to avoid falling asleep. The brain, which signals our stomach to digest food while we’re resting, will have to bypass that signal in order to maintain other functions in our body- like staying awake.
Eating small, frequent meals is simple to follow. You eat three small meals and three snacks in between meals throughout the day, by constantly providing your body with food, you minimize the risk for overeating and you also allow your body the needed time to adjust to your dietary regimen.
The main source of energy for our body is glucose or carbohydrates. Take the source of glucose away and the body goes for next available source of energy: fat. High protein diets have been a constant favorite among first-time weight losers because it allows the body to lose tremendous amounts of weight in a relatively short amount of time. When combined with a powerful workout regimen, the protein gets absorbed by our bodies and converted into muscle mass. Muscle burns more calories than fat. So building more muscle tissue is one of the most effective weight loss tips to share.
Top 20 Neil Diamond Hits
Brooklyn born Neil Leslie Diamond began his singing career with the folk group, The Roadrunners, between 1954 and 1956. While a senior at NYU, studying medicine, Diamond was offered a songwriting position, by a publishing company, for fifty dollars a week.
In 1962, Neil Diamond signed a recording contract with Columbia Records, but failed to produce any hits. So, it was back to songwriting for Diamond, whose first success came when Jay and the Americans recorded his song “Sunday And Me.” They went Top 20 on the Billboard charts with it.
Other artists who recorded Neil Diamond compositions include: Elvis Presley, Mark Lindsay (of Paul Revere and the Raiders fame), Lulu, and Deep Purple. He also wrote for The Monkees TV show. Even though “I’m A Believer” and “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” were recorded by The Monkees, these songs were written by Diamond to record himself.
Diamond signed with Bang Records in 1966 and his first single, “Solitary Man” didn’t break into the Top 40. However, it was released again in 1970 and went to #21 on the weekly charts. His next single, “Cherry Cherry” gave Diamond his first hit and he managed to have a Top 40 hit every year between 1966-1983.
Ironically, Diamond’s biggest hit of all time is a duet with another Brooklyn native, Barbra Streisand. Both had recorded Diamond’s composition of “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” on separate albums. Two Detroit deejays, Jack Hood and Gene Krusewski, noticed the similarities in the recordings and mixed the two versions. The song’s popularity sparked Diamond and Streisand to go into the studio and record it together.
Here’s a look at Neil Diamond’s twenty biggest hits, according to Billboard’s weekly Top 40 charts.
1. You Don’t Bring Me Flowers – 1978 – labeled as Barbra and Neil. In their early years, Diamond and Streisand sang in a school choir together.
2. Cracklin’ Rosie – 1970 – written about a Canadian whiskey and it was Neil’s first number one single.
3. Song Sung Blue – 1972 – one of three number one singles for him.
4. Love On The Rocks – 1981 – one of three singles from the film “The Jazz Singer” starring Diamond.
5. Sweet Caroline (Good Times Never Seemed So Good) – 1969 – Diamond says it took him an hour to write this song, inspired when he saw a picture of Caroline Kennedy on the cover of Life magazine.
6. I Am…I Said – 1971
7. Heartlight – 1982 – inspired by the 1982 film “ET – The Extraterrestrial.”
8. Longfellow Serenade – 1974 – from the “Serenade” album.
9. Holly Holy – 1969
10. Hello Again – 1981 – also from “The Jazz Singer.”
11. Cherry, Cherry – 1966 – his first Top 10 single. A live version of this song from the “Hot August Night” album was released as a single and managed to reach #31 on the weekly charts.
12. America – 1981 – the third Top 10 single from “The Jazz Singer.”
13. Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon – 1967
14. Yesterday’s Songs – 1982
15. If You Know What I Mean – 1976
16. Play Me – 1972
17. I Thank The Lord For The Night Time – 1967 – legendary songwriters Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich can be heard singing backups on this tune.
18. Stones – 1971
19. Desiree – 1978
20. I Got The Feelin’ (Oh No No) – 1966 – a song also covered by Cliff Richard.
Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand had plans for a movie version of “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers”, but Diamond made the remake of the Al Jolson classic “The Jazz Singer” in 1980, for which Diamond composed the music. Neil Diamond continues to tour and record, including his third album of holiday music, “A Cherry Cherry Christmas”, which was released in 2009. In September 2010, Diamond was nominated for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
When to Use Capital Letters
Everyone knows that sentences are made up of a combination of UPPER case (or capital) and lower case letters, but as with everything in the English Language, there are rules as to when you use capital letters and when you don’t. For instance, you wouldn’t use capitals throughout a letter or email as THIS WOULD SEEM LIKE YOU WERE SHOUTING AT THE READER. However, capital letters must be used at certain, specific times when you write. When you are writing your novel, academic essay or business report, you want to be able to use capitalization confidently and with assurance. So, to help you avoid any mistakes, see the list below:
1. The personal pronoun ‘I’: What shall I have for lunch?
2. To begin a sentence or to begin speech: The girl sat down. She stared at her mother. “What’s for lunch?” she asked.
3. Abbreviations and acronyms: GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), NATO or Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
4. Days of the week, months of the year, holidays: Tuesday, February, Christmas, Easter Day
5. Countries, languages, nationalities and religions: India, Sweden, Chinese, English, Christianity, Buddhism
6. People’s names and titles: John, Charles Dickens, Professor Smith, Dr Brown, Princess Anne, Ms Cole, Queen Elizabeth I
7. Trade-marks and names of companies and other organizations: Tetra Pak, Walkman, Mitsubishi, Ikea, the United Nations, the Red Cross
8. Places and monuments: London, Berlin, the Jewish Quarter, Big Ben, Asia, the South Pole, Fifth Avenue, Mars, Buckingham Palace, Lake Windermere
9. Names of vehicles like ships, trains and spacecraft: the Titanic, the Orient Express, the Flying Scotsman, Challenger 2
10. Titles of books, poems, songs, plays, films etc: War and Peace, Romeo and Juliet, Brief Encounter, Dancing Queen
11. Headings, titles of articles, books etc, and newspaper headlines – these (sometimes) use only capitals: HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT FAST! CAT SAVAGES DOG, Chapter 1: JANE AUSTEN’S EARLY YEARS
Now you know how to use those capital letters confidently and correctly. So, go forth and capitalize!
A Quick Tour Of Paris – North By Northeast
We finish our quick tour of Paris by visiting the eighteenth to twentieth districts in the northern and northeastern part of the city. The 18th arrondissement of northern Paris is located on the Right Bank of the Seine River. The distinctive Moulin Rouge (Red Mill or windmill) is one of the world’s best-known nightclubs or to use the French term, cabaret. Josephine Baker, Frank Sinatra, Mistinguett, and Edith Piaf and many other famous entertainers regularly played the Moulin Rouge. This historic cabaret, arguably the site where striptease was born, has been immortalized in paintings by Toulouse Lautrec and to a lesser extent by two films nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award.
Butte Montmartre is a hill not far from the Moulin Rouge. Its height and natural beauty have attracted religious ceremonies since time immemorial. The area itself was the site of the first Paris Commune insurrection in 1870-1871. In 1873 Paris city council expropriated land at the summit of Montmartre for the construction of the Basilica. The foundation stone was laid in 1875 and the church was opened for services in 1891. Go to top of the dome for a spectacular panoramic view of Paris, which lies mostly to the south. The church and its surroundings have often starred in films, most recently the 2001 movie Amélie. You may want to take the funicular (cable-car) to get to the top of the hill.
From the late Nineteenth Century until the end of World War One Montmartre was home to the artists and their milieu. Among those who hung their hats there were Salvador Dalí, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh. You won’t have trouble finding many museums including the Musée de l’érotisme in nearby Pigalle. Montmartre is also home to a functioning vineyard.
The 19th arrondissement of northeastern Paris is home to the Canal Saint-Denis and the Canal de l’Ourcq. This district is fairly residential and is not visited by loads of tourists. In other words, by spending some time there you may get an idea of the real Paris, one less expensive than the touristy arrondissements. The Parc des Buttes Chaumont contains many lovely features including English and Chinese gardens, a waterfall, and several cliffs and bridges. It has been called the most romantic park in Paris.
What is less romantic than a slaughterhouse? To say that Villette was a slaughterhouse is like saying the Empire State Building is a skyscraper. It once employed over three thousand people but has now been transformed into Paris’s largest park with attractions for people of all ages including the biggest science museum in Europe.
The major attraction of the 20th arrondissement is the Père-Lachaise Cemetery, named for the confessor to Louis XIV. It is the largest cemetery is Paris and frankly one of the best-known cemeteries in the world. The Mur des Fédérés (Communards’ Wall) is also located in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery. This marks the spot where 147 Communards were shot in May 1871 effectively ending the Paris Commune. Belleville which means beautiful town is a Parisian working-class neighborhood situated mostly in the 20th and 19th arrondissements with a bit of overflow into the 10th and 11th. It’s a colorful area and home to a large Chinese community. Tuesdays and Fridays you’ll find farmers from the region selling their wares in an outdoor market on Belleville Boulevard. Many artists now live and work in this district. Legend has it that the incomparable singer Édith Piaf was born under a lamppost on the Rue de Belleville.