For demo or trial, please contact us for details.

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In order to improve cash flow, we can keep track customer based on their current collection. One way is to have a detailed aging report to monitor customer’s current balance that they owe to your company and how long they have owe. Proline prepares your company with the required report. The purpose of these reports allows your company to arrange your employee to call the customer, reminding them to settle their collection.

A reminder to customer can also be based on a monthly statement. With its flexibility, Proline is able to generate monthly statements to send it to customers. By doing so, customer will be able to keep track of their collection statements and pay the amount they owe.

Sometimes your customer will tend to forget about how much they owe money to your company. Wouldn’t it be nice if you can customize when your customer gets a payment reminder to inform them about their current aging to your company? Proline answers your question by allowing you to issue payment Reminders to customer.

Customers are always looking for incentive in every business they do. Have you ever thought of providing incentives for aging customer? Perhaps an offer of early discounts for those that settled their aging within a period of time? Or charge late interest for those that pay later? You probably need a system that does that right? With Proline you can do that.Customers will favor to pay earlier because they can pay lesser.

Let’s say if your customer is like 1 in a million that don’t pay no matter what you do, the final solution is to suspend their services and with a system like Proline, you are able to do that and ensure that your company would not provide free services.

Now you do not have to worry anymore about your customer collection because Proline took cares of it!

This will be my last and final post on the Twitter tutorial series. In this section, we will be taking a look at a couple of important aspects of how to use Twitter for your business more effectively.

Some of the things I’ll be discussing with you are:

> How to Find People to Follow & Get Followers Too!
> Mistakes to Avoid When Using Twitter
> Goodies for Making Twitter Use Easier

How to Find People to Follow & Get Followers Too!

Building a network on Twitter starts by finding people to follow. While you want to build a list of followers that is comprised of people in your target audience, you should also include a variety of other people as well.

Twitter is an amazing place to connect with people for new ideas, joint ventures and partnerships you may not find in your other business activities. By following people in your own industry, you can find inspiring ideas, opportunities to help others and the camaraderie of connecting with people who understand the ins and outs of what you do.

Every field has specific highlights and lowlights that only others in that same field can relate to and understand. When you get to know people who struggle with the same issues you have, you have the opportunity to encourage each other and offer suggestions for working through the tough stuff.

Many people in business online work in a solo enterprise, which can become extremely isolating and stifling. Twitter can be an excellent remedy for this affliction – which can lead to greater productivity and success.

There are several ways you can find people to follow on Twitter. Starting from your home page, you can look to your right and find the link that says “Everyone”. This is called the public timeline and it will show you tweets from absolutely everyone on Twitter. Read through these until you find one that interests you.

Then simply click on the username or profile picture to go to that person’s home page. Read through some of their tweets, go to their website, and read their bio – whatever you need to do to get a sense of who they are. If you like what you see, click the follow link under their picture and voila, you are following someone!

Another way to find followers is to use the “Find People” link. This is at the top of your homepage, in the navigational links. There are four different options in the Find People section.

• Find on Twitter: Here you can search for people by their username or their real name. This is great for searching out specific Twitter users.
• Find on Other Networks: This feature lets you import names from your Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or MSN accounts. You do need to enter your email password, but it isn’t stored and you won’t be spammed by Twitter.
• Invite by Email: You can enter email addresses here and send them a pre-written message inviting them to Twitter.
• Suggested Users: This little feature will offer you some possible users to follow. Many of these names are celebrities on Twitter – it may not do a whole lot for your business networking goals, but then again, you never know. You might just enjoy what they have to say!

On the bottom of your home page is the “Search” function. You can use Twitter Search to look for a username, a topic or a keyword. Type in your search word and you will instantly get a page of results containing that word. This is a great way to find followers in your niche. Again, when you see a tweet that resonates with you, go to that person’s homepage and look around a bit. If you like what you see, add them to your following list.

Once you are following a few people, you can check out their followers! Go to their home page and check out their followers. On the right side of their page, you see a link that says Following, with a block of photos underneath it. Click on the link or on a photo to go to the profile page of that Twitter user.

Finally, you can get followers by adding those who follow you. As you start tweeting and interacting with people, you will start gaining followers of your own. Many people follow everyone who follows them. Other people are more selective and only choose to follow back those who are in their niche. The choice is yours, but don’t limit yourself too much. You may miss out on some great new
friends, colleagues and customers.

Mistakes to Avoid on Twitter

There is no “right way” to use Twitter. Some people use it as a purely social platform, others use it as a teaching tool and still others use it for both of these reasons – and more. There are, however, a couple of important things to avoid doing on Twitter.

1. The biggest mistake to avoid on Twitter is using it solely as a sales platform. If the only tweeting you do is self-promotional, you’ll burn your bridges before you have a chance to even build them properly. You need to focus on the networking aspect of Twitter before you try to sell. Spend plenty of your tweet time reaching out to others, sharing useful information and being a social butterfly. If you focus strictly on self promotion, you will be ignored or worse yet, blocked by other users.
2. The other mistake to avoid on Twitter is spending all of your tweets on literally interpreting the “What Are You Doing?” question Twitter asks at the top of your home page. While you can certainly include information about your daily life, don’t focus solely on your mundane activities. No one cares if you are brushing your teeth or doing laundry all day long. The primary tactic on Twitter is to be engaged with other people. Ask questions, offer helpful links to things you are reading that might be of interest to your followers and seek out ways you can be useful to other users. Always remember Twitter is a networking tool – not a sales engine.
3. Some applications that work in conjunction with Twitter allow you to set up an automatic direct message to be sent to people who begin following you. Although many people use these auto – DM features, a large number of Twitter users frown on them. Several Twitter polls have shown that a large majority of users do not like automated messages.
4. If you do send direct messages in response to new followers, sending a link to your website - especially if you are trying to sell something – is a huge No-No! Most folks on Twitter would like to get to know you first before you start trying to sell your products and services.

Additional Goodies for Making Twitter Use Easier

There is no shortage of programs and applications used to make Twitter readily accessible and easier to use. Many of these can save you time and add convenience so you can make the most out of your Twitter time.

Some of the most helpful Twitter tools include desktop clients for accessing Twitter without needing to spend your time on the actual Twitter website. The two most popular desktop clients for Twitter are TweetDeck and Twhirl.

Desktop Applications

TweetDeck – www.tweetdeck.com

TweetDeck is an Adobe Air application that can be used on either a Mac or PC. It helps you break down the vast amount of information on Twitter into manageable sized groups, which helps you stay abreast of your conversations. You can split your TweetDeck screen into columns, helping you to sort things out.

For example, one column is for your regular tweet stream, much like your Twitter home page. However, you can also set up separate columns for your @replies, your direct messages, designated groups of people or results of a keyword search.

When you separate things into these various columns, you remove a lot of the ”noise” from Twitter and can see the information most important to you. This is especially helpful so you don’t miss any replies sent to you by other users, as well as showing you direct messages instantaneously.

One big frustration with the Twitter webpage is you have no way of knowing someone has sent you a direct message, without continually checking that page. The same applies to your @replies (messages sent to you, but in the public stream.) When you use Twitter from the website, you need to keep your focus on the page so you can see what’s happening. There’s nothing wrong with that if all you are doing is tweeting, but many people prefer to multi-task and tweet throughout their day.

TweetDeck lets you continue working on the web, or any other program you may be using and alerts you when you receive messages, with a little chirp and a small pop-up window. Then, with just a glance, you can see if the tweet is a direct message, a personal @reply or a response to a keyword search or simply a general tweet from another user.

Using TweetDeck for its search feature is a great way to keep an eye on your company name, a keyword for your industry or any other topic you want to keep in your sights. For example, if you are selling golf shoes, you can set the search feature for that term and whenever someone tweets about golf shoes, it will show up in your search column.

How To Video

TweetDeck also helps you respond quickly and easily to other people in a few different ways. When you hover your mouse over a person’s avatar, you are given four options: reply, DM, ReTweet or the other actions option. The others actions button offers you a range of choices from following to translating the tweet into another language, among others.

Twhirl – www.twhirl.org

Another popular desktop client for Twitter is Twhirl. Twhirl is much smaller than TweetDeck and doesn’t have as many features, but it does give you a small compact application to tweet and follow your tweet stream. Twhirl will also let you know when you have new messages. It also has a search feature.

It also allows you to keep track of some other social networking sites such as Friendfeed, laconi, ca and Seemic. Twhirl will cross post to Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn as well.

Both TweetDeck and Twhirl have built in link-shorteners, which shrink a link to help accommodate your 140-character limit on Twitter. These are only two of the various desktop clients you can use for Twitter.

How To Video

So that’s it folks!

The atmosphere on Twitter is a bit like a party filled with generous, helpful gogetters who truly enjoy interacting with people and doing all they can to help each other out. THAT could just be the secret power of Twitter right there – real people letting down their guard just a bit and truly enjoying helping each other create successful businesses.

There is a genuine cooperative spirit on Twitter that is making it one of the most popular spots to be on the Internet.

What are you waiting for? Start tweeting and join in the revolution. Watch your business soar to levels you couldn’t have even imagined.

Cheers

Like I promised, today I will be going through what are the best tweeting techniques to use for your business and discuss what is retweeting and why it’s important.

Tweeting – Get Social!

There is an art to using Twitter to its full capabilities. The most important thing to remember is to be social and really interact with people in a new way.

The quickest way to ruin your Twitter credibility – whether you are a new user or a seasoned vet – is to use Twitter as a platform to hype your sales pitch and hawk your products. Twitter is about networking – not about direct sales. It’s Twitter, not Tupperware. Your goal isn’t to see what the tally is at the end of the day.

Instead, your goal is about how many people come to the convention – your website. Well, if you’ve ever dealt with an over-zealous party planner, you know you love to hear about what they do, but not every time you hear from them and certainly not several times a day.

Disclaimer: Of course, sales are the lifeblood of every business and whatever industry you are in, if you can sell aggressively and deliver what you sell, you’re on the road to mega-success.

My point is Twitter is not the store front. It’s the vehicle that takes you to the storefront. And on Twitter – is all about the ride on the way to the sale. So get tweeting and have a little fun, while connecting with people for a bit before you try to sell them your products and services.

To tweet most successfully, vary your messages between encouraging and uplifting others, offering helpful tidbits in your area of expertise, sharing a bit about your real life and the occasional offer or link to your site. You should consider a ratio of about 20 to 1. In other words, for every sales tweet, you need 20 interactive tweets without pitches or site links.

The exception to this is if you have a blog with frequently updated content. There is nothing wrong with letting people know you’ve posted to your blog, but it is critical that you are also posting the other types of tweets.

Answering the Ever Popular Question, “What Are You Doing?”

To post a tweet (or message) on Twitter, select the Home link from your navigation links. Fill in the box that asks “What are you doing?” Remember, you only have 140 characters to work with so make it count!

Type in your answer letting others know what you‟re up to. Click the “Update” button. Your message has now been sent and others will see it.

Replies & Direct Messages

One of the best ways to use Twitter is to reply to other people’s tweets. When someone asks a question or makes a comment you can answer or respond to, use the @ sign before their username to reply to them. Here‟s an example:

Notice how all the tweets directed to the user NicoleDean had the @symbol before her username? You can check all of your own replies by clicking the replies tab on the right side of your homepage.

You can also click on the small arrow at the end of the user‟s tweet you are replying to. When you reply to someone in this way, others can see what you are saying as the reply shows up on the Tweet timeline. So, what do you do if you want to send a private message to someone without everyone else on Twitter seeing it?

If you want to carry on an exclusive conversation with one person for more than a few tweets, it’s a good idea to use the direct message (DM) feature. This allows for privacy (great for things like getting email addresses, phone numbers, etc.) from the entire Twitter universe (Twuniverse).

You can go to your DM folder from your Twitter home page by clicking the link on the right hand side of the page. Once you’re there, you will see a drop down list of the people you can direct message.

Note: The only way this feature works is when both parties are following each other.

The other way you can direct message someone is by typing the letter D, leaving a space and typing the username – without the @ sign preceding it in the text box of your home page. Example: D username

Re-tweeting (RT)

One way to interact on Twitter is by re-tweeting something someone else has said. Re-tweeting is simply repeating what another user has said, preceded by an @ and their username. If you want to re-tweet something a particular user has said simply type the following, like in this example!

Re-tweeting helps you out in two different ways:

1. It provides content to your followers.
2. It gets you in with the original tweeter.

Re-tweet fairly often, but keep it for things that are truly worth repeating. Again, don’t use this method of communication as your sole type of tweet, but mix it in with your other posts.

Another way to spread the word even more about you (and your business) is to provide your followers with quality information that will have them re-tweeting your messages to their followers!

So, how do you find people to follow and more importantly get followers of your own? After all, no one likes talking to themselves, right?

Video Tutorial

Watch this short video and learn how to retweet..

In the next post, I will talking about “ How to Find People to Follow & Get Followers?”. So, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter (if you’ve not so) to be kept abreast of all our latest articles and offers which are being added frequently.

In order to have an automated system, we need to have modules that determine the starting hour and the ending hour for the overtime. We also need a way to calculate it with the correct amount.  Proline surprises you by generating overtime report to take care of the overtime problem. There are two ways that can be done. In fact these can be done with some simple steps.

Under Toolbar click scheduler. Then click Daily Scheduler Tab. Click Down Arrow Button to choose Daily Job Listing, click Print to open a box.  Enter the date and time from and until. Click the Ok Button. In 19/02/2012, there is 1 job that has overtime. In addition, Proline also takes care of your technician that starts before overtime hours and finishes during the overtime hours situation.

Another way you can do it with Proline is Under Toolbar, click Reports, click Operations Tab and click Down Arrow Button to select Daily Job listing. Click the Show Button.

With Proline, user will also be notified in the report when the starting and ending time are not set.

With such report, companies are able to save time to monitor overtime situations.

Image courtesy of www.strangecosmos.com

Work isn’t supposed to be dreadful and stressful, otherwise it can be a burden.

Dragging a heavy baggage everyday when working, metaphorically speaking, is eventually going to lead to break down, or surrender. Apparently, this is a case wherein the company ought to make means to improve employee motivation, engagement and the organizational culture to drive more freedom and make their workplace a stress-free and enjoyable working environment.

How about a nice culture? It’s one where people have fun working. Everyday is a day to look forward to work, to implement innovation and creativity. To do tasks with enthusiasm, involvement and inspiration. Couple these with viable and measurable goals and optimal productivity won’t be so tough to achieve.

Hire Nice People

Datum’s CEO, agrees that to hire and retain good people, it must start from the top. The higher management itself must be willing to spot and groom the good people in order to spread the “we are nice people”  culture in the workplace. Positivity has to favor productivity and profits. Here are some of their criteria for hiring “nice” people.

Nice people are:

• Must be open, honest and have high integrity
• Must be positive in their outlook and attitude
• Must be competent (lazy porcupines aren’t welcome!)
• Passionate to listening, growing and learning

Nice people in the work place create a fun culture where people are eager to work. It is a culture that gives ample space for employees to learn and grow. A nice culture fosters a positive energy that breeds the energy of innovation and creativity.

Ownership and management needs to commit to employee engagement and employee input. There ought to be a sincere and genuine atmosphere wherein new hires are encouraged to contribute their opinions, in the same way as older employees’ opinions are welcome. It MUST be a liberating workplace culture, so to speak. A work place filled with great people nurtures the freedom to discover greatness.

5-Quick Tips To Create A Wonderful Culture

How to create a “nice” culture? Here are some quick tips:

1. The attitude to please- cultivate positive relationships that are grounded in humility.
2. Set expectations and standards instead of cold and unbending rules that often destroy trust. Create a list of outcomes to fulfill.
3. Nurture a sense of belongingness where people feel like they are part of the business. The vision and mission statement of the organization have to be solid and inspiring, celebrating the value of its people.
4. Clarify intentions, engage employees and sort out and use their input.
5. Be fair. Reward people according to their contribution.

A nice culture nurtures in employees the internal space and freedom to breed creativity and innovation. It allows the spirit of curiosity and discovery to come to life, making people in the work place the best that they can be.

Other Useful Resources

• Strategies for managing stress at workplace
• Working Together to reduce stress at workplace (.pdf download)
• Freedom at workplace (as understood) – LinkedIn Answers

Related Video Resource

What is your opinion on workplace freedom? Share your thoughts with us.

Remaining seated for a longer time also can also causes body aches. One of the most common aches is backache. According to orthopedic and spine surgeon Dr Siow Yew Siong from Malaysia, office workers suffer mostly sprained and strained low backs as well as early degeneration of the spine due to the sedentary nature of office work. Furthermore, having this disease can reduce productivity.

Thanks to the study done by many researches, companies are beginning to realize and adapt to a healthier working environment, standing working. Many of those started standing working found that they are able to focused for a longer stretches, and are far less likely to succumb to distraction. This in term brings more productivity of work to the table.

Standing working also causes the movement in the muscles of our body. Standing up engages your back muscles and improves your posture. Many that had made the switch have reported that the change cured their back pain.

Also, good news for those that are looking to lose weight, studies have also shown that standing working burn more calories compare to the traditional practice. Now you don’t have to worry about not having time to step into the gym anymore because your working environment have gave you a natural way of exercise your body.

Even though standing working is better compare to sitting working, excessive standing can also strained your muscle. So it is essential to be in a balance state by moving yourself around once in a while during work.

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In my previous post, Twitter for Businesses – An Intro, we discussed what is Twitter in general and how it can help your business.

This week, I’d like to continue on the same path, and in this article, you will learn the Exact Steps (together with screenshots) on how to open a Twitter account and configure it for your business.

TIP: The easiest way to get a real understanding of the power of Twitter is to actually create an account and get started. Since, this only takes a few minutes to do, I would advice if you haven’t already created an account, to do it now, while looking at the steps and the screenshots below.

Setting Up An Account

Go to https://twitter.com/# and on your right bottom box which says “New To Twitter? Sign Up”, insert your name, email address and click the “Sign up for Twitter” button in yellow.

Once you’ve inserted your initial details, you’ll be taken to a form to create your account that looks like this, where you’ll have to enter  Full Name followed by other important details. (So far, so good? Great!)

Then follow the steps to create your username. Your username is the name everyone will know you by, so give some thought to the name you choose. Every time you post a message, known as a tweet, on Twitter, your name and profile picture will be displayed, so you definitely don’t want to choose a username made of random numbers and letters.

Twitter lets you use up to 15 characters (with no spaces) for your username, so use them wisely. If you choose not to use your actual name, try to create a name that tells people what you do. You can use your business name, but very often, something a little more personal is more effective.

Remember the key to social media is the social part, so you want to choose a username that lets people relate to you as a person. Keep in mind, also, that if you choose a random username made up of assorted letters and numbers, people may think you are a spammer and block you.

NEXT…

Your next step is to enter your email address. Make sure you enter an actual email address that you use on a regular basis. Twitter will not send you spam email, but they will use your email address to alert you to new followers and direct messages, if you choose to be alerted later in your profile. You will also be notified, via email, if you lose or forget your username or password.

Once you create your account, you will be taken to a screen where you can check to see if anyone you know is already using twitter based on various email addresses. We’ll skip this step because well, almost everyone is using Twitter!

NEXT…

Next 3 screens will prompt you to add some suggested followers. You can scan through if you’d like or you can choose to skip these steps for now. You can add followers to your account later on.

NEXT…

Now, we’ve reached the area that will help you market yourself and your business. This is where you start personalizing your profile.

Here, all you need to do is add a picture of yourself (highly recommended). Some may give you an idea to add your co logo here, but I feel this isn’t the time to be shy. Use a real photo of yourself. You want your followers to see you as a real person, so they choose to interact with you and a real photo goes a long way toward helping people connect with you.

It helps to use the same photo you use on other social media sites as well as on your own site or blog. Since Twitter is a social platform for you to connect and meet individuals and business owners, it would be best to place your own lovely photo here. Then simply write a 2-3 sentence bio about yourself and hit the Done button

NEXT…

Once you’re done with the basic setup, now’s its time for you to customize your twitter account a bit further. On the top right hand corner, look for a man icon with a small drop down arrow, click on it and select “Settings”

Before you do anything on this screen, you will need to login to the email account you used when signing up for Twitter and click on the confirmation link. This is an important step, or else, without confirmation, your customizations will not be saved by Twitter. Done that? Good! Let’s carry on…

Once you’ve confirmed your email address, another screen will popup verifying, “Your account has been confirmed. Thanks!” and now you’re good to go. Select the Settings tab once again and follow the on screen instructions.

This is the Accounts settings page, there is really nothing to customize here except the Time Zone and Your Country location. The rest you may leave as default.

NEXT…

Click on the Profile tab on your left pane and once in the Profile page settings, ensure to insert your location (again!) and company’s web url and click the Save Changes button. The rest you may leave as default.

NEXT…

Give Your Page Some Personality Finally, you can customize how your homepage looks under by clicking the “Design” tab. This feature allows you a small amount of flexibility in the look of your homepage.

There are a few default design backgrounds you can choose and you can change the colors of your background. It can be helpful to use colors that complement your website or blog colors as part of your branding strategy. The design feature in Twitter is pretty limited.

If you are interested in a custom background, you can design your own in Photoshop, hire a designer or use a service like TwitterWebs.com or TwitDesign.com for a custom Twitter background.

If you have a custom background made, you can share more links with the people who view it. Although these links are not clickable, your background is a place you can at least let people know how they can connect with you. It’s a great place to share your other social media profile names or links, like Facebook and LinkedIn.

You can post a phone number if you like or any other information about your business. While it’s good to have clear information available so people can find you if they like, be careful not to let your background become too crowded or cluttered. Keeping it simple is the best route to go.

Here is an example of a custom background made by TwitDesign.com for the user NicoleDean.

Now that you’ve created your account and customized your profile, you’re ready to get started using your Twitter account.

In the next part, we will go through some tweeting techniques for businesses and best practices!

Talk soon!

p.s. Are you using Twitter for your business? In your opinion, is Twitter effective or is it a waste of time?