Brazilian online reservation platform, Restorando, announced today $3.2 in Series A funding led by Emergence Capital Partners. Restorando makes reservations simple and efficient with its online platform, that can be easily integrated into other sites for greater sales promotion, similar to OpenTable. Restorando was founded in 2010 and has operations in Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, and 4 other cities in Brazil. Restorando.com currently lists more than 800 restaurants in Brazil and Argentina.
Emergence Capital Partners is based in San Mateo and invests exclusively in early and growth stage technology-enabled services. Investments include companies such as Salesforce.com, Box.net, Yammer, and InsideView to name a few. Other participating parties include: Kaszek, a newly raised fund for Latin America by the founders of MercadoLibre, Atomico, the London-based firm founded by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom, and Storm Ventures. The funding will be used to grow the company and expand to other South American markets.
We put this question to the good people on Quora to see what people thought were the core principles behind cloud computing and to also see what creative answers people could come up with. We certainly got a range of responses, here are a few of our favourites:
- Rent, don’t buy.
- CIO becomes strategic
- Virtualized Computing Service
- On-demand scalable services
- Can’t touch this (Slightly retro and very simple)
- Outsource your datacentre
- Big database(s) (in the) sky
- My data everywhere
You can view the full thread and add your own suggestions here
All sales leads are not created equal. In sales, we can spin our wheels working on the wrong leads, wasting valuable time barking up the wrong tree. Here’s how to save time by narrowing in on your target customer.
1. Ask the Right Questions
It takes time to really understand what the right questions are for your sales process. You’ll soon figure out which ones are leading you to dead ends.
Start with basic company information that’s relevant (company size, industry, location), then move on to business needs. When’s the last time the company purchased a copier? If it was in the last 5 years, they might not be in the market for another. Do they have marketing staff? If so, a consultant might not have anything to offer.
Hubspot has a great intake form with all of their free ebooks and whitepapers. In addition to basic contact and company info, you are asked what your biggest marketing challenge is. It’s a free-form box, so you can write whatever you want. I’m willing to bet if you put in “inbound marketing,” you’d get a call.
Read more at http://www.soldlab.com/news/2012/02/22/5-Ways-to-Qualify-Your-Leads/
The Internet has brought a change in what business people think about advertising. Many small businesses that I interact with see two fundamental types of advertising. There is classic advertising: ads promoting products on television, on radio, on billboards, in magazines, in newspapers, etc. And then there’s the new advertising: advertising on the Internet. Online ads are often considered non-traditional advertising and everything else is traditional advertising.
I don’t think this distinction is entirely accurate. I think that perhaps it’s giving the Internet too much credit. The Internet is just another channel–it in itself isn’t a new way of advertising. A banner ad on the Internet is no different than a billboard on the side of the road. Some people notice it and some people drive on by. A video ad online interrupts the viewer just like a commercial does on TV. Ads are ads, regardless of where and how they are placed.
Read more at http://www.soldlab.com/content/readMore1/infobox/featured_news/template/default/active_id/5
The IE Group Summit on 22nd & 23rd March, 2012 in Berlin.
This summit will gather the world’s most dynamic and senior executives operating in the areas of integrated business planning. Register now!
More information at http://operations.theiegroup.com/ibp-berlin/why-attend
Are you crazy about watching cricket ? Die hard fan of IPL matches ? Yahoo... A special iphone application launched for you by Hill Stone Animation Studios which is a part of AJ Square Inc , a software development company. H.S.A Studios has released many successful iphone, ipad games like Relic hunt, Dragon Dance, Hex Roto, Angry Dooby and etc. Now it has come up with IPL Fixtures, a free iphone application for IPL fans.
You will definitely under confusion about matches and its schedules on IPL. No worry, we made it to help you and this app will resolve all your needs about IPL teams, scores, schedule, players, player bio data and more cool features.
Hopefully, it would be mind blowing app for Indians. You can have the list of teams gonna participate this year 2012, Players going to be played at particular team, Details bio data of the player and their milestones on cricket.
Progressive cloud computing company Healthx has finally released the much-awaited Mobile Application, which caters to Payers aiming to connect members with their benefits and healthcare information. Healthx clients will receive their own uniquely branded app available for easy download in the iTunes, Windows, Android, and RIM markets.
Smart phone users will gain access to their vital Healthx Healthcare Portal information, including a Provider Directory, ID Card view, Medical Claims information, Eligibility information, FSA balances, and secure messaging.
Payer clients will own the app, which will display each organization's specific logos and branding; Healthx will simply manage the technology via its cloud services. Healthcare payers can expect the highest level of secure encryption from the technology company, which is both HIPAA-compliant and SAS 70 audited.
DreamSimplicity met with Curt Raffi, Product Marketing Director at MetraTech and Murray Gardiner, Director of Community Banking and Cloud Services at Temenos to learn more about their exciting venture into microfinance cloud deployment.
The Big News:
Offer your customers a drawing around an event, like the Super Bowl when they wear an NFL jersey or whoever can throw a football through a hoop receives a discount on any purchase. What theme-based contests can help increase your sales?
Yup, I said it. Good closers are bad sales people. The better a “closer” is, as defined by traditional definitions, the shittier the sales person they are.
Why?
A good “closer” is someone who is unable to bring the client along and close them during each step of the sales cycle and therefore they have to “close” the whole deal in one step.
Closing in the traditional sense is the idea that a sales person gets to the end of the sale, has shown their wares, pitched their story and now needs to get the prospect or client to make a decision. It’s very linear. Really good closers have developed their craft over years and years of coaxing clients into a decision at a single point in the selling process and therefore have forgotten how to sell.
Read more at http://www.soldlab.com/news/2012/02/21/Good-Closers-are-Bad-Sales-People/