Infosys Ltd raised its sales growth outlook for the year after posting a higher-than-expected 21% rise in quarterly net profit as improving US and European economies revived demand for outsourcing services.

India's second-largest software services exporter was also helped by a renewed focus on winning big-ticket contracts after a string of disappointing results led it to change a strategy of developing its own products.

"We believe the global economic environment has improved and our clients are gaining confidence to invest in their strategic initiatives," chief executive SD Shibulal said in a statement announcing fiscal third-quart

Sales meetings are a critical component of a great sales culture -- an opportunity to build the skills of the entire team and motivate them. In each meeting, if you provide your team with just one idea, strategy or tactic that will improve their game, and motivate with some positive reinforcement or reward, you will see a gain in productivity and sales results.

Here are six keys that guarantee your next sales meeting will help deliver the results:

1. Start with an energizer. Begin your meetings on time and start with some fun. Reward those who are punctual to help eliminate the lateness factor.

From week to week you'll find my team doing trivi

Image credit: CZH Hospitality For restaurant owners, basic steps like reeling in costs can lead to success, while simple mistakes such as poor menu choices may lead to failure.

For example, one restaurant my consulting agency rescued was spending an extra $2,500 a week on unnecessary food expenses. That is a lot of money for any business, especially for a new, 35-seat restaurant just trying to get off the ground. Fortunately, we were able to turn this around.

By employing a simple, common sense food budgetary approach, we helped this restaurant get its financial house in order. By doing so, we were able to get the expenses under control, saving the company ap

Image credit: parade.com Business, like poker, is a gamble. Some people will lose, some will win and some will simply break even. Employees are one of the most critical variables in your success at the table -- they will make or break you. You can up your odds of success by taking the following steps:

Don't be afraid to go "all in." A good employee is almost always worth a big bet; they are like the pocket aces of the poker world. If you are fortunate enough to find one, do what you need to do to get them on board and keep them engaged.

Granted, reading people isn't quite as easy as reading cards. "Aces" don't always announce th

How seductive are your product descriptions?

Does your product copy entice readers to click buy or try? Or do you simply describe your product and tell web visitors what it does?

The secret to writing seriously seductive product descriptions is to follow a proven process to engage, persuade, and sell.

To get started, you need to know exactly who it is that you want to buy your product.

1. Define Your Buyer Persona

Basing your work on buyer personas prevents you from sitting on your butt in your comfortable office just making stuff up, which is the cause of most ineffective marketing. ~ David Meerman Scott

The US dollar has risen against the Japanese Yen as encouraging trade figures helped the American currency increase its value against its peers.

The US dollar also recorded an increase Yen and reached its highest against a basket of major currencies in a month in Asia.  However, the gain was limited due to concerns over the upcoming US employment report.  The jobs data is expected to show that the world's biggest economy created 196,000 jobs in December, according to analysts polled by Reuters.

A weak data could affect the increasing vale of the dollar while a lower than expected figure could raise fears that the Federal Reserve might start rolling

Analysts have said that government owned mortgage security firms, Fannie and Freddie might be too profitable to be shut down, as planned by the government.

The government has offered to save mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2008.  This involved the largest of the bailouts with a conbined $187.5 billion because the government thought that they were too big to fail.

The president had earlier called for shutting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two financial giants that have been offering 30-year mortgages for generations.  Most banks appear unwilling to offer loans for such a duration without any backing from the government.  A g

Hitachi Ltd, a leading maker of electronics and power station equipment, has said that it has promoted Toshiaki Higashihara to the post of the president from senior vice president.

Toshiaki Higashihara will replace Hiroaki Nakanishi who will be now work as the chairman of the company.  Higashihara will assume in the new role from April 1, according to a statement sent to the Tokyo Stock Exchange today.  Nakanishi will also become Hitachi's chief executive officer from April.

The company has been aiming to streamline operations to revive business.  The company has merged its units and cuts costs and television output under Nakanishi in order be

  Washington, Jan 7 : Keira Knightley has splurged 6.5 million dollars on a property in London.   The 28-year-old actress' pad has 5 bedrooms, 3 and a half bathrooms, a dinning room with a fireplace and a renovated kitchen with light blue cabinets, Radar Online reported.   The 'Atonement' star's one bedroom has huge windows overlooking the tree-lined streets and another one with a fireplace and built-in bookshelves.   The estate also has a wine-cellar and a big backyard. (ANI)   Source: Top News

image credit: Shutterstock
A new year brings new adventures for entrepreneurs. Figuring out what the best path to take may need a little outside help.

For ages, entrepreneurs have read tea leaves, studied palms, examined numbers and, of course, turned to the stars to glean insights on how to handle tough business decisions. Should they seek outside funding or bootstrap? Hire additional help or run a lean model? Sell, merge, go public?

While looking to the stars for future outcomes may not be the most scientific approach, it can be a fun way to see what the world has in store for you -- even if it means reading between the lines and trying to translate

Image credit: racheocity on Flickr It's 2014, and networking isn't your grandfather's game of handshakes and highballs anymore. Your online footprint matters as much as, if not more than, your real-life presence. Just as there are certain faux pas to avoid with in-person networking, you can botch online networking if you aren't careful, says serial entrepreneur Matthew Toren. For example, you should expect potential business associates to look you up online, which allows them to find your social media accounts, blog posts and anything others have written about you. "If what they find doesn't give them the right impression, you're not likely to make the connecti

Mumbai, Jan 2 : Automobile major Tata Motors Thursday reported a decline of 42.28 percent on its total sales including exports in December 2013.

The automobile manufacturer managed to sell about 37,852 units last months from from an off-take of 65,582 units in the corresponding month of 2012.

The company's domestic sales including commercial and passenger vehicles in the month under review too decline. The off-take fell by 43.25 percent at 35,010 units from 61,700 units sales in December 2012.

The company's passenger vehicles sales fell by 34.63 percent at 9,272 units from 14,185 units. The company's commercial vehicles sales fell by 4

Paris, Jan 2 : Taking off into the New Year, the EADS group has been rebranded as Airbus Group, uniting all its activities under a single and strong brand, it was announced Thursday.

With two of its three divisions renamed, the group will be home to Airbus, focussing on commercial aircraft activities; Airbus Defence and Space, integrating the group's defence and space activities from Cassidian, Astrium, and Airbus Military; and Airbus Helicopters, comprising all commercial and military helicopter activities.
ADVERTISEMENT

"For many years, Airbus has been a globally renowned synonym for technology breakthrough as well as aeronautic passion and pri

New Delhi, Jan 1 : India's largest passenger car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki Wednesday reported a 4.4 percent decline in total sales for December which stood at 90,924 units due to a fall in exports.

The company sold 95,145 units in December 2012.

There was a sharp drop in the company's exports. Maruti Suzuki exported just 4,311 units last month, which was 67 percent less than 13,072 units sold overseas during the corresponding month of 2012.

However, the company's domestic sale increased by 5.5 percent to 86,613 units during the month under review as compared to 82,073 units sold in December, 2012.

Sales in passenger car

  A roundup of the best tips of the week from Entrepreneur.com.

When Nicolas Desmarais and Daniel Saks decided to found AppDirect, a cloud service marketplace and management platform, they knew they wanted to do it together. Long-term friends in San Francisco, they couldn't wait to start working as a team in the city's startup ecosystem. Learning to navigate the co-founder relationship over the last four years helped them grow "from two guys brainstorming in an apartment to a staff of more than 100 people overseeing technology that reaches millions around the world," Saks and Desmarais say.

One means of accomplishing this tremendous grow

If life had gone according to his original plan, Scott Jordan, founder and CEO of Ketchum, Idaho-based Scottevest, would be a highly successful internet legal executive. Instead, he's an internet apparel executive. The change in direction occurred in 2000, when Jordan, wearing headphones while rushing through an airport, got his cable snagged on a doorknob. "It practically pulled my ear out," he recalls. "I said, wow, there has got to be a way to design clothing that incorporates the wires."

As vice president and general counsel for a startup, Jordan was a frequent flier who carried a lot of gear: a PalmPilot, flip phone, data cable, hydrogen fuel cells

It's time to free the U.S. Postal Service.

While people continue to fight over who is to blame for the shipping problems that saw some packages delivered too late for Christmas, the good old post office is trying to shine its own apple, noting that while competitors UPS and FedEx had problems, its carriers "delivered mail and packages in many places on Christmas Day to keep up with higher-than-expected package volume."

These postal workers didn't take off on Christmas so they could "make sure everyone enjoyed their holiday." Everyone, that is, except for those silly enough to deliver through UPS or FedEx, the Postal Service in

  Singapore sovereign wealth fund, GIC has said that it has acquired Blackstone Group's 50 percent stake in London's Broadgate office complex.

Singapore sovereign wealth fund is looking to generate stable returns form the real estate sector. GIC acquired cluster of 17 office buildings, shops and restaurants in the City of London's financial district. The two companies said in a statement that it covers 4.7 million square feet in the city. GIC also signed a joint venture with British Land that has the remaining50 per cent stake in Broadgate.

New York-based Blackstone has agreed to sell the stake for more than 1.7 billion pounds to the fund. GIC

  U. S. traffic safety regulators have dragged Mercedes-Benz C-Class cars under scanner to investigate a technical glitch in the luxury vehicles' rear light system.

According to a statement by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the stop, tail & turn signal lights in Mercedes-Benz C-Class vehicles can fail due to a melted electrical connector.  Initial investigation has suggested that overheating of connectors caused melting, smoke or fire.

The expanded investigation now covers 252,867 C-Class vehicles manufactured from 2008 through 2011.

The traffic regulator has upgraded the investigation to an enginee

  Delhi, Dec 25 : The telecommunication arm of the $4-billion Videocon Group, Videocon Telecom will bid for additional 2 Megahertz (Mhz) spectrum at the upcoming auction, each for the Punjab and Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh telecom circles, a company statement said here Wednesday.

At present, it has 4.4 Mhz spectrum in Punjab and 5 Mhz spectrum in Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh telecom circles.
ADVERTISEMENT

The telco is already nearing peak capacity utilization in some pockets or cities and considering long term business perspective, the option of acquiring additional spectrum promises to be more effective, the company feel.

"