It is Saint Valentine’s Day again! Have you prepared gifts for your loved ones? Chocolate, jewelry, ring can be good gifts for them, and if you are not well prepared, it is so sweet to give a kiss. When I was young, I was so eager to wait Saint Valentine’s Day and excited to receive the delicious chocolate from the handsome boys, but as time passed, I prefer to get some special objects which keep good memory with them, say a gizmo. Now I would like to share some of my Saint Valentine’s Day gifts with you.

On the Saint Valentine’s Day in 2009, I received Chinese symbol jewelry with Calligraphy from my boyfriend Jason. As you know, calligraphy is an ancient art form China and is still widely practiced in China today. Mainly because it is an abstract art, its characters can be enjoyed and appreciated for the beauty and rhythm of their line, even without knowing how they translate into words. The Chinese symbol jewelry, like rings, necklace pendants, bracelets, key rings, and charms, is artfully simple in its design, yet rich in meaning for the one who gives it and the one who wears it. Jason told me he chose the one from 100 different charms with different patterns which he did not understand, but he thought the meaning is not the important, which is the mystery of it. Thanks to this special gift which gives me another good memory and the chance to learn about the mysterious Chinese culture.

The gift that I received on last Saint Valentine’s Day was a flash memory. He put the flash memory on the desk and left a note that says “I love you”. And this is just the start of my Saint Valentine’s Day. He gave me a 1 day ticket of freedom. He took on all of my responsibilities for a day and sent me off to beach to play. He wanted to say that he appreciated everything that I did for him; what’s more, he understood that my responsibilities were sometimes a burden to me. We drove down to the picturesque beach, took a lot of photos, and shared the music through noise canceling headphones. It was a beautiful day. That was so considerate. What a surprise! I really loved it.

It is Saint Valentine’s Day again! It is time to select a gift for him. Actually, from my point of view, he needs nothing except some stylish iphone 3gs cases. The leather iPhone 3 case he uses does not match him perfectly although it is in good design and quality. I am sure the stylish iphone 3 cases will surprise him anyway. Spending a whole day last weekend, I selected the most appropriate and stylish iphone 3 cases. And this time I will hide them in the room and give him some clues on note to fine. That would be interesting!

Have you prepared your gifts now? And what kind of gifts do you want on this Saint Valentine’s Day?

Which gift you received before is the most unforgettable one for you? Is it a Barbie you got on your 7th birthday party or a ticket for a baseball match that you were longing for? Perhaps it is the unique handmade necklace from your first boyfriend. Such a small gift is worth several dollars in a local shop, however the value of it is not only judged by its price in dollars but by the care and love with which it has been come across. In other words, a gift can be really remembered by its importance instead of its price on the tag. Do you have a hard time when determining which gift to buy? In fact, there are some clues to help you to find a proper gift to the recipient. Let’s see them.

If you paid enough attention to them, you must get the answer right away.
1.Does your recipient usually keep saying, "I want to buy the latest iphone 4 accessories, how do you think of them?", "My flashlight is ready to fall apart." or "My coin purse got lost last week."? ATTENTION! These can be your choices of gift!
2.Do you talk about your favorite band, author, artist, sports team or actor when having a nice sunny afternoon in the serene café at the corner of the street? Which one is his or her favorite? If she is a fan of Justin Bieber, in my opinion, high quality noise cancelling headphones would make her enjoy. If he is a gizmo collector, things will be much easier for you. What you will do is to spend half a day on the internet searching the latest novelties that he has not bought yet. The next thing you do is to wait for his surprising look and scream.
3.When you visit your intended recipient at home, look around and pay attention to what has been there and what is missing. Does the host complain about the poor quality of sofa? Does the vase in the living room match with the motif in the room? Do they apologize for the lack of chairs? Have they decorated in a particular motif? Does the dog have a dog bed? Does the cat have a scratching post? Does the child have a large toy chest? These gifts must be considerate.

These gifts can be spoken out by them unintentionally; nevertheless, it is an unspoken rule about gift giving:"Don't ask the recipient what he or she wants." Generally speaking, it is very impolite to ask people such a bold question. Children, on the contrary, are eager to tell anyone what they are wishing for. Therefore, when asking is out of the question, you’d better choose a gift certificate a place where almost everyone could find at least one thing to please themselves, such as book stores, movie theaters, department stores, gadget catalogues and so on. Although gift certificates seem a little bit generic, recipients are likely to get a satisfactory item.

Each of us began to be a buyer ever since his childhood. Do you still remember the first time when your mommy told you how to buy a lollipop? That successful experience is still unforgettable for me. While some of us are now taking the role of a seller; however, it is not so easy being a successful seller as being a successful buyer. As a buyer, one has to do is to find somewhere supply what we want to buy at a reasonable price; while as a seller, one has to do is to keep the customers in his store and persuade them to buy. Now, think about one of your purchasing experiences, did the seller introduce something else to you when there was not the exact item you wanted to buy?

What a good seller must be able to do is persuading people to buy or support his products or services. All in all, the method is to PERSUADE, without which, one cannot make a career in sales.

As a matter of fact, there are obstacles for being a seller. Therefore, before determining to be a seller, challenges and obstacles must be considered.

1.What is in the mind of customers?
Actually, it is most difficult to make a customer to buy or even change his mind if he insists on an opinion or judgment about a specific product, service, or review. While it is really a piece of cake to let those who have a strong intention to purchase, since the item is the reason that he enters into your store, although the speakers in that store is labeled higher.
2.How to arouse customers’ interest?
Never persuade customers to buy something in your store the minute he enters your store. Starting with HELLO or the compliment of his perfect match in dress leaves a good impression to them and your conversation will be comfortable and natural. Keep getting their attention in different way, as you know, they are not willing to spend time to let you present your persuasive speech.
3.Time constraint
Suppose that there is time constraint when you introduce an exact item, say a pen drive, or persuade customers. Keeping customers focusing on you is surely different from have them interested. Generally speaking, customers like to change their mind if there is not the ideal one for them. Time, at that moment, is so precious for both of you. Stay on an item for a short period and turn to another one if you find customers are not listening to you.
4.Mood and attitude of customer
As a seller, one must consider customers’ state of mind. Watch their face as soon as they enter into your store before you give your smile and utter a single word. For example, no matter how excellent the item is in his wholesale store, he is not suggested to introduce when the customer is with an angry look. As is known that people who has a hard day is unlikely to convince anything.

The solutions to obstacles in sales above have been practiced successfully all over the world. With these useful tips, you will feel easy when on the way of being a seller.



It is said that the family is the safe and warm harbor for a woman. If you are a woman, you must want to be a good wife and good mother in the family. Anyway, there is a very important thing that should be considered carefully, which is to make the mother-in-law happy. From my point of view, nothing is better than giving her a thoughtful gift especially on the eve of some important days. But do not be nervous, it is not as difficult as you imagine. Just relax! Actually, finding the right gift for your mother-in-law is easy with a little planning, some imagination and making the effort to get to know her a little better.

Consider that you may be still puzzled; I would like to give you some suggestions here.
1.Plan ahead.
We all know that when the important holidays come, it is considerable to buy a gift for your mother-in-law. In fact, your parents will not care if you forget to send them gifts as a result of your busy work, however, things may turn out to be serious if this comes to your mother-in-law, as she may think you are not thoughtful enough. Next time give yourself at least a month to search for the right gift. If she has a poor eyesight, why not buy her a led flashlight. Your mother-in-law will appreciate the time you spent choosing something she actually likes, and so will your husband.
2.Consider giving a helpful gift, or add to a collection.
This means give her what she really want and need. If she likes to travel and take photos, it is strongly recommended to buy her several lithium batteries and a large capacity of flash drive. As you know, the powerful lithium batteries supply enough power for her cell phone, which makes the call convenient and makes her away from desperate when there is emergency; and an excellent and powerful usb device enables her to store her sweet memories-photos, which makes a moment that she shares the interesting stories that took place in the trip with all of you.
3.Do not forget her pet.
I suggest you do not forget her pet if your mother-in-law really owns one of several. To some extent, she treats her pets as her own children, talks with them, and walks out with them on a sunny afternoon. If you buy some toys exclusively for her pets, both your mother-in-law and her pets must feel very happy.
4.Give her a forever gift.
Generally speaking, a wedding photo of you two is the perfect choice if you are newly married. Just select carefully one or two from the hundreds of your wedding photos, add a frame and give to her. Believe me as mothers like this stuff. Moreover, you can tell her another photo with her grandson on it is on the way if you have already had the great plan.

Do you get some ideas now? I am sure your mother-in-law will feel satisfied with your gifts from now on.

You must meet those who are unable to speak; however, those persons struggle to communicate with others by sign language. It is really hard for ordinary people to understand their special language. Well, you do not have to understand it, but you have to understand your own language and master it to communicate as communication is the basis of our daily life.

If you are a student, communicating with your friends is the top important thing for you; if you are a teacher, communicating with your students is the top important thing for you; if you are a parent, communicating with your child is the top important thing for you; and if you are an employee, communicating with your workmates and employer is the top important thing for you. Do not regard it as a tough task to communicate with different kinds of people; just treat the process as a gift from God.

Just as some people are talented in singing, dancing, or drawing, others may good at communicating. They know how to speak and talk with others in order to have a good result. If you have ever been to a wholesale market, you must have seen how those wholesalers sell their goods such as flashlights and flash drives and attract customers with their cry sound like from speakers. One of my friends once told me that it is their living pressure that drives them to have such ability. It is not important for those customers to discover how the wholesaler gets it, but it is time for us to know how to improve our communication skills.

Nowadays, there are wide selections of schools all over the world which devote to improving communication skills for different ages of trainees, who are mainly from schools, banks, shops, and hospitals. Salesmen from shops account for about half the numbers of trainees in such a school.

More than ten kinds of courses can be learned, such as organizational leadership communication and team building communication. The most popular one is organizational leadership communication, since many people hold that a leader's communication style can directly sabotage and undermine the building of much needed trusting relationships that get results and enhance employee morale and motivation.

When I interviewed a trainer James half a year ago, he said while coaching some of his clients selling iphone cover in local stores, he noticed his former self. He was certain that in his 12-year management and leadership career he engaged in each of "The 7 Deadliest Sins" that can be read about in his report. It was only in the final years of his previous career that he woke up and began to communicate with his team like a "Champion." Then I got what "The 7 Deadliest Sins" were. Form James’ point of view, not only must a leader in an organization but also everyone else there avoid "The 7 Deadliest Sins" at all costs: Lack of Specificity, Lack of Immediacy, Lack of Directness, Lack of Appropriate Tone, Lack of Focus on Desirable Behaviors, Lack of Focused Attention, and Lack of Respectful Rebuttals.

These details help one to communicate effectively and pave the way to being a successful leader in the future.

Living in the world, we have to communicate with different people. Different words are supposed to say to different listeners. For example, in business or talking with leader, we have to treat it as a formal occasion and use correct words and expressions to convey what we want to say; in a student’s reunion, we’d better use casual words to describe our feelings. If the conversation goes smooth, each of the participants can get most of what he or she wants from the process. To be frank, this goal is not easy to get as the person who you are talking with is not always the one who are adept in communicating. Anyway, learning some communication skills is valuable for conversation.

Now let’s have a meet some skills that may be of great help for your communication.
1.Listening to your employees if you are the boss. Someone said that the successful communication is like a two-way street, so management is needed. People doing the real work of the company may have the best suggestions for improving it and are often the first to see danger approaching. However, the suggestions may be neglected sometimes especially those form low-level employees. Therefore, it is necessary to create formal feedback mechanisms for input, such as a suggestion box or a hotline with anonymity.
2.Take input seriously. Otherwise, employees must feel they are watching a window show, and having no idea what is going on in the company. My friend Dylan, working in a electronic products chain store, once complained to me that his boss seldom listened to the employees’ suggestions, what’s worse, he sometimes refuse them face to face. They really wanted to introduce ideas to attract customers to buy noise cancelling headphones, but his attitude made everyone upset and disappointed; even when the price of iphone 4 accessories is not reasonable, he thought his decision was right and did not accept any advice.
3.Check management attitude. Maybe employees will not say NO directly, but their faces tell you that your determination is not fair. Sometimes, this cannot be easily noticed, so the employer should pay more attention to it. Any bad feedback will not help to establish a good relationship between employer-employees.
4.Reward feedback. In order to get feedback, reward may be a good way to encourage employees. As employees have difficulty in weighing the immediate risks of speaking up against the uncertainty of being recognized and rewarded for the contribution. Employees might tailor reward systems so that employees share their ideas more directly. For example, reward can be given to the one who suggests the best practical plans or to the one who sold the most flashlight first. All in all, employers can know what employees are thinking about and get the immediate suggestions to amend something unfair or something incorrect.

Undoubtedly, every employer wants his words be remembered and convinced by all his employees. Well, this goal can be achieved only if he masters the communication skills above.

Do you admire those sellers who earn a lot of money every month by managing an online store? And do you want to be one of them if there is such a chance? It is time to consider having a change in your career if you do not like your routine work in that boring company any more with those people you do like. I am sure someone will tell you it is not easy for you to have a new start at this age if you talk about this idea. Anyway, no success will come to you without any effort.

After having determined to take this new job, reading the following tips will help you a lot in your new career in many aspects, which are also the way to your success.

1.Take high quality photos.
High quality photos of an item will help you to show its shapes and functions. Take several photos from every angle on the item and focus on its good aspects. When it comes to an electronic item, say a flashlight, you’d better include a photo of the tag on the bottom of the item to show the model number.
2.Add explicit description to the items you sell.
Use accurate words and expressions to describe every item to customers especially if some of them are used items. If the item has blemishes or scratches or something does not function as it should then put all of that in your description. Words that match with photos is the can attract customers to visit you online store.
3.Offer multiple shipping options as well as calculated shipping. Offer a variety of ship items for different countries of customers according to their different preference. Use calculated shipping based on the total shipping weight of the item so that customers know that they are paying a fair shipping price without questions, which saves much time to explain. Shipping can be done through USPS, UPS, and FedEX. In addition, you can use Paypal to pay for and create shipping labels for both UPS and USPS.
4.Ship the item immediately. It is a good idea to ship the item on the same day or the next business day after you receive the verified payment. If you use drop shipping then you should order the item immediately after you receive payment to ensure the item is shipped from your supplier as rapidly as possible. Trust can be built through this process no matter what you sell. Sometimes, even cheap noise cancelling headphones can bring a great number of customers to your store.
5.Send customers follow-up feedback once the item is shipped. You can leave positive feedback thank for their prompt payment and email them some code for discount of the future products, or you can send iphone 4 accessories as gift with the item as so many of them use iphone nowadays. In that way, customers are likely to visit your store regularly.

Much effort must be taken in the beginning in order to attract customers and build trust. Things will become much easier when you master the said ways.

Last time when I met some of my friend in a café before Christmas, everyone was happy to share the goals achieved in this year and tell the new plans in the next year with much self-confidence. When it was my, I said that I wanted to communicate better than ever before. It is not because I am not good at communicating, but because I think there is scope for improvement indeed.

Being a manager in a local store selling a variety of iphone 4 covers, I am responsible for the training of sales man, teaching them sales skills, how to make customers interested in our products, and how to attract them from other stores.

If you want to discover how to communicate at your very best there are a number of proven, highly effective ways to make a big difference in your communication skills. With the right strategies and tips you can and will excel even if in the past you wondered what the best way was to communicate with people. In my opinion, it is the most difficult to communicate strangers, as you are not familiar with them and cannot predict what they will say next. However, things can be a little bit easy with the right guidance when learning how to get along with people.

Some suggestions are posted here which may be of help for you.

1.Conflict is inevitable. Combat is not!
Some people cannot distinguish conflict with combat. Actually, there's a gigantic difference between the two concepts. You may see many conflicts around you every day, in the market, on the way to work, or even in your office, however, combat does not always only when the conflicts get worse.
2.Is technology killing quality conversation?
In such a rapid developed society, new products appear every day in the shop. computers and other electronic texting devices devalue or reduce the frequency of regular face-time conversations? We become more willing to communicate other online by MSN, Yahoo, or e-mails instead of the original face-to-face communication, which is shown in a recent study.
3.Get the respect you deserve
In my experience of communicating with some distinguished clients, I really feel uncomfortable as they treat me as someone who wants to get their money, which means they hardly trust me in our business and sometimes even initiate disrespectful behaviors. Under such a circumstance, I never be a man who is timid and cannot describe my emotion, on one hand, I tell them that I am honored they have interest to buy iphone 4 case in my store; on the other hand, build barriers to let them know it is not always easy to get discount iphone 3g cases in my stores if I cannot get the respect I should have deserved.

Recently, I have realized that communication skills become more and more important in a team, and it may become the first urgent skill which should be improved with the development of a team in such a rapid developed world.

I guess almost employees hope there will be a better result in 2011. In the beginning of 2011, many of us are making a great plan for 2011, making good preparation to achieve more goals. What I want to do in the year 2011 is to keep good relationship with families, friends and everyone at work.

Luckily, working in a company which deals with flash drives, I have a kind employer, who is like one of flashlights aside in my life leading me to the success and has been giving help at work. I learned a lot from him, including how to be effective when doing a task and how to communicate with different customers with specific communication skills. I think it is necessary to share these with you so that more progress will come to you in the year 2011.

1.The importance of using positive language
Using positive language and eliminating the negative is important to help to establish good relationship with others in the beginning. When in the workplace, this makes a huge impact on the way you treat your leaders or workmates.
2.How to grow professional relationships
One of the most important skills you can develop to be successful in your professional life is to be successful in nurturing and cultivating relationships. Time spent on this activity will create lasting benefits to achieve your goals in the shortest time. For example, it is somewhat difficult for a sales man to build friend-like relationship with wholesalers as they are the clients of the sales man, and the activity between them may be only buying and selling. However, a good relationship makes them treat a sales man as their own friends, so it is believable that a case shows how a kind customer introduced 26 other customers to buy iphone cover before Christmas in one of the chain stores in LA, according to a report.
3.Controlling anger when someone shouts at you
Suppose that someone walks into your office and without warning, for no reason as far as you're concerned, and starts shouting at you. Perhaps you are very angry and think this is impolite, however, don’t be an impolite guy like him, just treat him politely, he will realize his misbehavior soon and apologize to you.
4.If your leader is bully
Leaders, generally speaking, are supposed to inspire and motivate every member. In much of today's corporate world, that's just not the reality. Many leaders in management positions abuse their power to order, humiliate and take advantage of the members. If you recognize you are working for a bully, you should be more careful at work and prevent any conflicts.
5.How to handle conflicts with your leader
No one enjoys conflict, especially with the leader. But when you have an honest difference of opinion, it is better to pay the price of discomfort than to bottle up the frustration of not doing what your conscience tells you is right. I suggest you tell the truth in private in case that your leader is not right.

As a matter of fact, it is not easy to be a good employee and be effective at work. Therefore, we need to try our best to get close to it.

There is a special expression in China to describe the phenomenon that people use different ways to talk with different listeners—MEET DIFFERENT PEOPLE AND USE DIFFERENT WORDS. It is undoubted that some special communication skills have to be applied in a specific situation in order to get expected results.

A great number of medium can be used in a communication, either in verbal or written format. Choosing the medium for a message depends on your conversation style. For example, e-mail is increasingly acceptable, even for conveying important information especially at work. As a general rule, anything that requires development of an interpersonal relationship with an employee requires face-to-face communication, which includes first-time instruction, coaching, counseling, significant delegation, conflict resolution, and, especially, delivering bad news. Urgent matters are suggested to be handled in person. Written messages are often read with divided attention or even ignored for a while; to ensure full and immediate focus on a matter, deliver the message orally.

As is known, you may feel relaxed even when discussing some serious topics with the employer, while feel uncomfortable when chatting casual topics with some friends. It is their communication skills that make such a difference. Those communication skills are particular important for wholesalers, with which they can attract more customers or persuade them to buy items, say a best mp3 player in the store. So it is not ridiculous that someone once commented that communication is an art which you can live on.

Nowadays, a lot of employers have realized how important communication is in business, so they make great effort to improve the communication skills of both employees’ and theirs. Zak is regarded as a professional communicator among his workmates. Being the best sales man in one of large chain stores, he uses lot of communications to treat different potential customers and persuade them to buy cell phone covers. In the last 3 years, he was rewarded by his employer and gave help to his workmates in how to sell successfully. And now he is going to write a book in which he will share his successful cases and experience, offer practical insights into this important topic in a way that is readable and engaging. His humor and exercises allow readers to reflect on how his concepts relate to his own lives.

There is an excerpt from his draft.

Be emotionally intelligent
You know people who have rich academic qualifications yet somewhat don't get it right in the world of work. Surely, they are clever, but socially inept. Therefore, managing your own emotions becomes very urgent. In addition, try to be aware of and sensitive to those of others, in other words, think in their situation.

Put people at ease with your voice
If you're working in sales or other front line position, it's how you say that affects your success. Our personal problems have a strong impact on how we're feeling when we arrive at work. If you bring your private problems into work, your work will be absolutely ruined, as the bad mood can affect the sound of your voice when talking.