Top Ten Listening Skills for Speakers

Good Speakers need good listening skills to become Great Communicators

Speakers spend a lot of time developing speaking skills and often don’t focus enough on the equally important communication skill of listening. As a Speaker trained in the art of listening I have put together the tips below.

1. What Speakers want most of all is to be heard, so does everyone else! Hence listening is the perfect gift to give to others

2. Never make assumptions about what people are thinking and feeling. Take time to listen and ask questions. Most people will be only too happy to answer. Why guess what people are thinking when they will tell you!

3. Remember silence can be as powerful as Speaking, when used skilfully

4. In conversation, repeat in your own words your understanding of what is being said. This communicates to the listener that they are really being heard.

5. Make eye contact that is not too fleeting, actually try to see the eye colour of the person/s you are communicating with.

6. When people speak, let them finish their own sentences, no matter how intuitive you are, you never really know what people are going to say.

7. Resist the urge to interrupt, and avoid planning your reply while the person is speaking; instead focus on fully hearing what is being said. This is the real skill of listening

8. Listening is a whole body experience; listen under, over and between the words spoken. Feel what your audience is saying.

9. Check your ego. When you try too hard and ‘Ease Genuine Out’– EGO, what remains can appear false. Listen to yourself and be yourself, people will love you for it.

10. People will be more prepared to listen to you, if you take time to really hear them.

Top Ten Tips for Participating in Online Business Expos

Are you ready for a BASH? Have you ever been a vendor or exhibitor at an expo, craft show or other offline event? Well, when you are a participant in an online bash or online expo - many of the same expo tips apply. Here are the Top Ten essential business expo tips for online events.

* Business Expo Tip #1 - Welcome guests and vendors to the event - seems pretty simple, but being friendly online goes a long way!

* Business Expo Tip #2 - Introduce yourself, and give a little personal info about yourself. People love to do business with vendors they know! Do you have kids? Are you married? Do you love to knit? Share tidbits of yourself! Connections are made at online expos and bashes.

* Business Expo Tip #3 - Set goals for yourself before the event. For example, I will book three parties or I will increase my sales by $xx. Setting goals (and writing them down!) helps you achieve goals.

* Business Expo Tip #4 - Decide what games, prizes, discounts, sales incentives you will offer for the expo or bash attendees. Write the incentives down or better still, type them into a word document - that way they are ready to cut and paste the day of the online event. It will make your life easier, believe me!

* Business Expo Tip #5 - Prepare your presentation notes as well too - what products will you be featuring? Is there something new or exciting? Be sure to put all pertinent info into your word file as well. It's also a great idea to put a brief overview of your shipping info, guarantees etc into a word file for the event too. Cut and paste makes it easy!

* Business Expo Tip #6 - Promote, promote, promote! Success at an online expo or bash depends on many factors, the primary factor is you! Be sure to invite friends, colleagues, family, customers to join you at the online party. Online shopping is hot! Everyone loves the convenience of shopping from home! Be sure to let everyone know that you are a vendor at XYZ Bash and let them know the dates, times etc. Send invites to your personal contact list at least three times - a week or so before the online event, a day before the event and the day of the bash or party!

* Business Expo Tip #7 - Network! The biggest benefit of online bashes and online expos is the networking that can be accomplished. It's important and beneficial to build relationships.

* Business Expo Tip #8 - Be sure to say thank you! It makes a huge impact.

* Business Expo Tip #9 - Follow up with any guests or vendors who have requested information, who ordered, who won prizes immediately within 24-48 hours at the most! Stay in touch with those guests and vendors who have requested contact.

* Business Expo Tip #10 - Have fun! Online bashes and expos are created to be like a party - enjoy yourself, have fun!

Ten Reasons to Implement Choice Theory in Your Organization

What is Choice Theory (CT)? CT is a theory of the explanation of human behavior. CT has applicability to both a person’s personal and professional life. It teaches us about our five basic needs, how to meet those needs in a responsible way, and how to take personal responsibility for getting those needs met.

I have assisted many company with implementing the concepts and principles of Choice Theory (CT) in the workplace over the years. Their reasons ranged from mere curiosity to desiring a total immersion of their company into the concepts and principles of CT. Those companies that were committed to learning the CT model and implementing it correctly received better than expected results.

One of the elements of implementing CT in the workplace is to put the three conditions of quality in place. Those three conditions are:

1. Create a need-satisfying environment for your employees.

a. Employees need to feel connected to each other, management and the mission and vision of your company.

b. Employees need to feel empowered by having their opinions sought out and listened to and having their work respected.

c. Workers need to feel safe on the job. This pertains to their emotional, as well as physical safety.

d. Workers need to have the ability to make choices and exercise some independence within the definition of their jobs.

e. Workers need to experience some fun and learning on the job.

2. Workers must only be asked to do useful and meaningful work. If this is not clear, management must take the time to explain it if quality is what you are seeking.

3. Finally, workers need to be asked to self-evaluate their work. This self-evaluation component is far beyond the scope of this article but suffice it to say that two main components are required for employees to be able to accurately and honestly self-evaluate.

a. There must not be fear in the workplace. If employees believe that management will hurt them with the information shared during self-evaluation, then one can hardly expect honesty.

b. Also, there must be a very clear and definite matrix of what quality looks like. The employee must have an ideal to compare their work against.

When these components and others are added to the workplace, you can expect:

1. Increased employees’ satisfaction. Employees will be taught that they have the potential, capability and responsibility to personally get their five basic needs met. This awareness will result in a decrease of a sense of victimization and complaining, because employees will be focused on solutions they can implement instead of the problems that exist.

2. A unified approach to conceptualization of issues. Once all your employees understand CT, they will be conceptualizing problems in the same way. This unified approach will decrease a lot of competition amongst your employees and will result in the creation of a unified, cohesive and committed group of workers who believe in the direction your company is headed.

3. Room for individuals’ strengths and unique approaches. CT is a framework within which to operate that encourages people’s personal expression. Employees will be able to include their unique and creative talents, as long as they don’t conflict with CT principles.

4. More effective communication. When everyone in your company understands the basic framework for conceptualizing human behavior, then communication is enhanced. There will be fewer misunderstandings because all are speaking the same language.

5. Less employees stress. Many employees experience stress on the job. This usually comes from a lack of understanding about responsibilities. CT assists employees to understand that the only person they can control is themselves. Once people stop expending energy trying to change people or circumstances beyond their control and instead begin to focus on what adaptive response they can take, stress levels dramatically decrease.

6. Decreased employee turnover. When management learns the steps to create a need satisfying environment for employees, while holding them accountable for their work, employees become dedicated and committed to the work they do. When people are in environments that meet their five basic needs, there is motivation to stay in that environment.

7. Increased creativity. When employees work in an environment created by their employer that allows for self-expression and encourages personal power, limitless creativity is unleashed, which often results in business improvement and expansion.

8. Enhanced relationships. CT teaches people to get their needs met without interfering with others meeting their needs. When this happens, the status of their current personal and professional relationships improves both at work and at home. The possibilities are endless!

9. Improved services to customers. Using CT/RT, employees assist customers to clarifying what it is they want and to evaluate the best ways for getting there. Customers appreciate this approach, which will improve customer satisfaction, resulting in repeat business and an increase in referrals.

10. Decreased Resistance/Increased Cooperation. When CT is implemented in the workplace, employees become less resistant and more cooperative because they are being heard. When we stop pushing people in the direction we think is best and focus instead on building better relationships, resistance is decreased and cooperation is increased.

7 Ways To Get One way Links To Your Site

One way links will help you gain better rankings in the major search engines. Here are 7 ways to get them :

1. Write articles
Writing articles alone won’t get you one way links, but if you submit it to articles database online, you will gain many one way links. The article database site will give you a link back AND the webmasters who reprint your article on their site will also give you a link back! If you write and article with a catchy title or in-demand content, you can get published hundreds of times online, which will give you tons of backlinks.

2. Participate in forums
In forums, you can usually have a link in your signature. This used to work extremely well about a year ago. Today, it is not as efficient, but it can still be good to do it sometimes on highly popular forums.

3. Participate in blogs.
Blogs are similar to forums. They get spammed a lot, but if you take the time to write useful comments on some of them, you can get some good one way links out of it.

4. Ask for it!
Do some research online for sites in your industry with a high ranking in the search engines. Send an email to the webmaster and tell them you think your site could be of interest to their readers, and ask them to put a link up! This can be time consuming, but it can sometime get you link on very high ranking sites.

5. Submit to directories
Also a time consuming job, but manually submitting to directories will get you many owe way links because a lot of them don’t ask for a link back. Don’t use a software to automate the submission though, because you can actually hurt your ranking doing that.

6. Write useful content
If you have very interesting content, or a cool tool on your site, people will naturally link to it!

7. Give testimonials
If you use a product, or read a book, and really like it, send a nice testimonial to the website owner. Many will give you a link back on their sale page. This gives you a one way link and often, quite a bit of traffic because people are curious to find out more about the person who gave a testimonial!

The Top Ten Reasons to Hire a Coach

1. You have a big goal and you want someone to support you. A coach has no other agenda except to help you succeed. He/she can help you to brainstorm ideas, act as a sounding board, help you overcome your fears, and hold you accountable for moving forward on your plans.

2. You feel like you are not moving forward - you are stuck and can’t figure out how to get beyond where you are. A coach can help you determine what is holding you back and then will work with you to overcome the obstacle.

3. You think you want to make a change but aren’t sure what kind of change you want to make. A Coach can help you to understand exactly what you want.

4. You’ve just learned a new skill and want to integrate your learning into your work or life. A Coach will work with you to really internalize what you have learned.

5. You are not happy in your job and you are not sure what to do about it. A coach can help you to understand what you want to do and then will help you to do it.

6. You are thinking about changing your career and want to explore what’s possible. A coach can help you uncover your life’s purpose and then help you find a way to use that purpose in your career.

7. You are so busy helping other people you have no time for yourself. You feel resentful and angry. A coach can help you to understand what is causing your anger and help you to take the necessary actions that will help you to be a happier person.

8. You want to work smarter not harder but you aren’t sure that that is possible. A coach can help you to set priorities and find new ways to manage your time, your work and you.

9. You are planning to start your own business (practice) and feel overwhelmed by everything you have to do. A coach can help you plan your business and help you to create a realistic time line.

10. Life feels flat to you. There is nothing physically wrong with you but you know something is missing. A coach can help you to find the vision and the passion missing from your life.

7 Money Saving Tips to Decrease Home Business Expenses

We all know that running a home business is highly satisfying, and at times downright liberating! No clock to punch, no dress code, and best of all, no boss to answer to. But there are also many facets of business ownership that entrepreneurs must stay on top of. One of those is keeping the expense to income ratio in balance. Below are seven painless ways to do just that.

1. To save on costly ink cartridges, print in draft mode, unless the printout is for a client or will be reproduced.

2. After spending your hard earned money on those ink cartridges, turn them into a free ream of paper! Many office supply stores offer a free ream of copy paper when you recycle a used ink cartridge at their store. Ask your local office supply store if they offer this service to their customers.

3. Make that free paper last twice as long. How many times have you printed something without spell checking it first? Use the back of those misprints for making lists and jotting down ideas. Another way to keep paper use down is to utilize the annoying sheets that often print out last with just a small ad or footer on them. Turn them over and print on the blank side.

4. Apply for a cash back/rewards credit card. Using one credit card for all of your business purchases simplifies bookkeeping and makes categorizing expenses at tax time a lot easier. Why not earn rewards such as airline miles or restaurant gift certificates, or even better- cash, on purchases you have to make anyway? Just be sure to fully read the fine print concerning interest charges and late fees. Or pay off the balance each month and avoid both!

5. Compare prices on internet service providers. Some companies offer a discount when internet access is bundled with cable or phone service. If you are really happy with your current ISP, call and ask if they are offering any promotions that you can take advantage of.

6. Network with other home business owners and offer to barter goods or services. If you own a gift basket business, assemble baskets featuring a direct sales consultant’s products, and customers are purchasing from both of you at once. A bookkeeper can trade services with a web page designer. The possibilities are endless. You just have to ask.

7. For low cost advertising, contact organizations holding charity auctions or raffles. You supply the prize, whether it’s jewelry or web hosting, and in return you receive exposure for your business and pleasure in donating to a worthy cause.

Top 7 Business Lessons from the Wiggles

At Macquarie University in the early '90s, three Australian early childhood education majors, Murray Cook, Greg Page, and Anthony Field, decided they had an urge to dress up in brightly colored red, yellow, and blue (respectively) costumes that look like the uniforms on the original "Star Trek" series. It wasn't long before they convinced Anthony Field's bandmate in The Cockroaches, Jeff Fatt, to don a purple shirt and start entertaining at birthday parties while they danced and sang about fruit salad and wallabies.

If you're a parent of a small child, you probably know this Aussie quartet as The Wiggles, who are the Beatles, Monkees, or 'N Sync of the kid set. They are the highest paid entertainers in Australia, ahead of Russell Crowe, Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman.

You know right off when you watch their DVDs and videos (which you will, at least 200 times each) and their TV show four times a day on Playhouse Disney that these guys are definitely not an American creation. Mister Rogers, Mister Dressup and Bozo the Clown are gone, and no modern adult American males would dress in funny costumes and entertain kids with songs about "Fruit salad, yummy yummy!"

Their loss. The Wiggles, who earn $14 million per year, are the latest kids' sensation, and what they can teach us about success and finding your life's passion will inspire corporate America to play the guitar and dance with the Wiggles' friends, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus, Dorothy the Friendly Dinosaur, and Captain Feathersword the Friendly Pirate, who acts with cheerful swashbuckling bravado that would make Johnny Depp want to slit his own pirate throat.

1. Do what's good for your audience without lecturing.

The Wiggles don't resort to After School Special messages. You want to know about the value of a healthy diet? Have some fruit salad! Exercise? Let's get up and "Romp Bomp a Stomp," or dance and play, with Dorothy! Let's do the pirate dance with Captain Feathersword and run after the Wiggles in their big red car. The songs do what songs, dance and theater were designed to do originally: pass on knowledge. They do this in a fun, clever, colorful, eye-catching way. The three Wiggles (Murray, Jeff and Greg) that have ECE degrees, and children of their own, know kids can understand what's beneficial for them without being spoon-fed. And Jeff...well, sleepy Jeff shows everyone the value of a good nap.

2. Find a way to include everybody and you'll reap the rewards.

Jeff, who doesn't hold an ECE degree, was shy about getting involved with kids, according to a Knight-Ridder article, "If you have small kids, get ready to Wiggle" by Rod Harmon. Greg, Anthony and Murray devised Jeff's constant sleeping and the running gag of asking the kids who participate in the videos and TV show to shout "Wake up, Jeff!" This has become so popular that there is actually a Wiggles video, "Wake Up, Jeff!" From the first Wiggles video to the current videos, you can see Jeff become more and more involved with the children, singing, dancing and playing, although he is quieter than the other three. Kids are always attracted to someone who's slightly different, and Jeff stands out even when dancing with a big green dinosaur reciting poetry and a purple dancing octopus. The other three Wiggles seem to encourage his uniqueness. From all the videos, CDs, and Jeff dolls they're selling, the approach works! When Wiggles doubles tour America, Jeff will be mobbed by kids too young to go nuts over Justin Timberlake.

3) Keep it live and stay in contact.

The Wiggles could get away with doing DVDs, TV shows and albums for their adoring fans the rest of their lives. But all of them are used to interacting. Murray, Greg and Anthony expected to be teachers. Jeff and Anthony played to crowds as members of the Cockroaches. They include real-life children, including members of their own families (as you see in the credits of their videos and DVDs), in their videos and talk to them. In one scene of "Hoop Dee Doo! It's a Wiggly Party," several children make emu skirts while one of the Wiggles talks to them. Undoubtedly, the Wiggles' live shows are no different, including the versions in Asia that will feature local native speakers as Wiggles clones ("The Wide World of Wiggles," Feb. 6, Newsweek Web exclusive). Even Dorothy has her own dance party on tour. Whether you send a giant green dinosaur with a floppy white hat or show up yourself, don't underestimate the value of making contact and getting involved. It's fun to run and jump around with kids, too (no wonder Anthony, who's always eating, stays thin!)

4) Don't follow the crowd or the market.

Most American non-Disney non-Nick Jr non-PBS kids' shows seem designed as 22-minute commercials for action figures or dolls, as well as ways to keep kids passively entertained. The traditional wisdom has been: Kids will be bored if there's no slam-bang action and there will be no way to make money out of doing something that's good for them. The Wiggles have proved this false. Kids dance and sing along with Jeff, Murray, Greg, Anthony, and friends, rather than sitting eating the sugary food du jour and mindlessly watching some freaky green monster get zapped only to reappear in the next episode. With an epidemic of diabetes mellitus and obesity in American kids, the Wiggles' approach is not only positive, but continues to breed success for the multicolored four.

The Wiggles themselves doubted there would be an audience for helping children learn through music and dance. A booking agent told them there would be no money in it, but they stuck to their guns, and became wildly popular in Australia. The United States was next and the Wiggles now are a solid hit on Playhouse Disney, with sold-out tours---they have even had to add second and third shows in many cities.

5) Getting international or multicultural isn't that hard.

The Wiggles don't need a multicultural sensitivity training class. After all, when your friends are a singing dog, a rose-eating dinosaur and an octopus with an underwater band, you don't have a problem with diversity. They regularly include Australian, Irish, Spanish, and other songs in their act. The franchise is expanding to Asia. If you think that this TV show doesn't sound like a likely hit in Japan, you've never seen "Pokemon" or anime, or the old classic "Ultraman."

6) Stay true to your roots.

There's no doubt that Murray, Jeff, Greg and Anthony are Australian (again, four American guys would not do what they do), although Dorothy sounds a bit more British. Songs such as "Willaby Wallaby Woo" speak to their down-under heritage, and you don't see them suddenly moving into a mansion in Malibu, pretending they're wealthy Hollywood Yanks with no family or kids.

7) Your family life only enhances your work and your passion.

Three of the Wiggles are married, Jeff apparently being too sleepy to settle down, although before Anthony married he was voted Australia's most eligible bachelor. These mates have built their career around children, and as noted in point 3, regularly include their own families in their videos. The family that eats fruit salad and romp-bomp-a-stomps together, stays together. If you give joy to millions of kids, it can't help having a lasting positive effect on your family.

Does all this inspire you to Wiggle, to get up and dance? You probably will if you have kids. But let it inspire you to follow your passion in your work, your family, and your life. Learn from those four career consultants, Greg, Murray, Jeff, and Anthony. And hey, eat some fruit salad. You need your health, mate.

No More Lists To Remember

Are the endless lists of Top-7's and Top-10's taxing your brain and your memory? Do you ever feel like trying to keep all these ideas straight, let alone apply them properly at the correct moment in time an overwhelming chore? How often do you find yourself having to review these lists? Perhaps endlessly until the next list comes out and then it's back to square one again.

Wouldn't you rather live, work and be spontaneously effective, without having to pull out your "how to" lists? Just imagine for a moment beng able to live this way. Doesn't this feel like a weight has just been taken off your shoulders? Don't you already feel more competent, more confident. Now I know you "think" this is not possible, but I would like to suggest that you already, even if you doubt this, know deep inside you what is the right thing for you in every moment.

You see most of us have had this knowledge drummed out of us by the numerous years of education each of us has undertaken. This probably sounds odd to you but if you notice how confident recent graduates feel about entering the work world you'll find that most are paralyzed by fear and self doubt. Shouldn't all this education make them feel capable and confident? Well, it's supposed to but the actual effect is the reverse.

So with all this self doubt many keep looking outside of themselves, perhaps to others to provide them with a list of instructions of how to work and live effectively. So my question becomes, how do you know if any of these lists actually work? Well you might say, "if they achieve the results I'm looking for and thereby make me feel happy and fulfilled".

Now I wish to point something out here, and it's a subtle point. In order for you to know whether something is right for you, you already have to have an internal reference point by which to measure it by. You might wish to refer to a recent article I recently wrote, entitled "Intelligent Emotions" , to see a more elaborate discussion about this.

Without such an inner reference point, if something that happened to you was supposedly beneficial for you you wouldn't know unless you spontaneously felt some feelings of happiness associated with it. The fact that you feel the happiness at all is a sign that there is an inner intelligence inside of you that "already knows" what is good for you!

So how does it feel to know that you have had this inner intelligence "drummed out of you" during your life? Probably not so good. That feeling is a sign that having it drummed out of you is "not good for you"! Are you ready and willing to reclaim it for your self and live a full, competent and confident life?

Seven Ways to Get the Most Out of the Next Training You Attend

Sometime soon you will be attending some training. It may be a one hour tele-seminar, a one day class, professional conference, or a weekend retreat. It may be something that you are paying for, or it may be something your organization is investing in. Whether you are paying the bill or not, you are making a significant investment of your time, energy and attention to participate.

Many people approach training as an adult much like they approached classes when they were in school – and those strategies aren’t always the best ones to maximize the value from a learning experience. Regardless of the length, situation or topic, there are some very specific things that you can do to convert the experience into useful learning you can apply in your work and life.

Following are seven strategies that you can apply to convert your time and energy spent in training into real useful learning.

1. Have a goal. Been signed up for some training at work? Decided to attend a seminar on a topic you are interested in? Great! The first thing you should do in any case is set a learning goal. If you are already knowledgeable about the topic and have specific things you want to improve, setting your goal or goals should be easy. If this is training you are less excited about attending, or are unclear about, you can still set a goal like: “Learn one new thing I can apply at work,” or “Meet one person I can add to my network.” Having a goal and writing it down focuses your mind and will help you gain real practical value from any learning situation.

2. Take personal responsibility. Take responsibility for your own learning experience. The training may not be the most dynamic or engaging you’ve ever been to, but that is ok, because you have a goal. Make that your focus. Perhaps the trainer isn’t going to cover that topic exactly. That’s ok – use their expertise. Ask them at a break, probe for other resources. Stay focused on your goal. Your learning is in your control. Take responsibility for getting from the experience what you want and need.

3. Ask questions. Don’t understand something? Ask for clarification. Want a little more information? Ask for it. A big part of being responsible for your on learning is asking question to get what you need.

4. Ask the Golden Question. The most important question is the one you won’t likely ask out loud. “How can I use what I am learning?” This is the golden question because it helps us translate the learning to real life. Ask this question of yourself through the training experience. I keep a separate place to keep notes on the application ideas I get from asking myself this question when I am in training. This truly is the golden question. Ask it of yourself when you start to get distracted, ask it of yourself at breaks. Soon it will become a natural response and an amazingly valuable habit.

5. Learn from everyone. There are more people to learn from than just the speaker/trainer. The other people in the room can be a great way to learn. Tap into their experience and knowledge. Talk to the people at your table or around you. Think of them as peer coaches. These people can help you learn during the session and might become great people in your network after you leave. Be involved, participate and allow yourself to learn from everyone, not just the person in the front of the room.

6. Build an action plan. At the end of the training, build an action plan. Review your goal(s) and build a plan to implement what you have learned. Reflect on your answers to the golden question and resolve that you will apply those ideas too. If the training has been really valuable, you may have several ideas. This is great, but be realistic on how much you can apply at a time. Build your plan recognizing that you ay be able to implement some things tomorrow, but that other things might need to be spread out over the next week or more.

7. Teach someone else. If you want to really lock in what you have learned, share what you have learned with someone else. Talk to a colleague back in the office. Share the concepts with a friend. Not only have you helped the other person, but you have increased your mastery and clarity of the ideas in your own mind.

Bonus tip # 8 – Review your notes. If you want to really retain what you have learned for the long term, set up a process to review your notes. Review them the evening after the event. Review them the next day, and the next day. Then put a note in your to-do list to review them one week later and one month later. Each review only needs to be five minutes long. You are simply trying to build the concepts in your mind through repetition and giving your mind a chance to spark new connections and new ideas.

As you can see, these strategies don’t require any additional monetary investment, just an investment of your focus and approach. Applying just one of these strategies can have a major impact on your results. Applying them collectively will put you among the learning elite.

Put these strategies some where so that you can review them before you attend any training event. Over time the reminders will turn these strategies into your own habits – habits that will help you move towards your goals and potential.

International Shipping/Freight for Dummies

There are lots of benefits for some businesses to import or export goods. Manufacturers and distributors can order directly from the overseas manufacturer and save money on their purchases. They can also market their goods to the world instead of just the USA. There is a demand for American products in many parts of the world, but smaller American companies don’t think they have the connections to offer their goods internationally. I recommend using freight forwarders instead of carriers because a good freight forwarder will shop several carriers to get you the best rate. With the right freight forwarder importing and exporting is as easy as sending a package via UPS.

First I will tell you what information you need to get a complete and accurate international freight quote. Then I will tell you how to insure that the quote you are given matches the dollar amount on your freight invoice. To get a freight quote you need to provide: your billing address, the origin zip code/city, origin country, the destination zip code/city, destination country, method of transport (usually ocean freight or air cargo), destination and origin details (door to door, door to port, port to door or port to port), residential or business origin/destination, if a lift gate is needed at the origin or destination, a description of the contents, Length, height and width of each pallet or box (unless you are shipping an entire ocean container), and the amount of insurance coverage if needed. This information will get you an accurate freight quote. If you accept the quote an agent of the freight forwarder will get the remaining details from you.

Follow these tips to protect yourself from misleading quotes. Make sure the quote is confirmed by a FAX/email. Verify that the fuel charge, customs clearance fees, customs brokerage fees, and trucking fees (if applicable), insurance (if applicable), and transit time are included in the quote. The destination location usually pays the duties and taxes to their government. If you are new to importing or exporting you can go to www. shipandfreigt.com or phone Paul Buisson at 985-727-2992 for free advise.

Paul Buisson has been helping small businesses import and export for over three years. He specializes in helping start-up businesses and businesses that don’t know anything about international freight. Recently he helped a small business with one employee win the bid for a large military contract shipping items to Iraq.