The next time you’re planning a family vacation you might want to consider Iowa and specifically its capital city, Des Moines. If you’re looking to explore America’s heartland there is no better place to start. In the midst of this agriculturally based state sits Des Moines.

Originally Des Moines was a fort created in 1843 by the military to look after the rights of the Sak and Fox tribal communities. It has changed tremendously since those beginnings and is now the largest city in Iowa and has gained a reputation for being the epicenter of the insurance industry. However, Des Moines has a lot more to offer visitors than just agriculture and insurance industries. If you decide to make Des Moines a vacation, stop then there are some places & things to do that may be of interest.

A first stop may be a visit to the Iowa State Capitol building. It was built in the late 1800’s, between 1871 and 1886, and architecturally showcases the best of 19th century design. Beautiful 23 karat gold leaf covers the magnificent dome and gives it a glow, especially when the sun is out. Daily tours are offered for this impressive structure so be sure to take advantage and add this to your travel itinerary.

Another popular attraction is the Des Moines Botanical Center. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors yearly and is located by the Des Moines River. It’s a lovely place to visit, relax and discover nature’s beauty. Be sure to contact the Center to discover the perfect time for visiting and set aside enough time to stroll through these 14 acres.

Des Moines is also a place for animal lovers. The Blank Park Zoo has thousands of animal species to view and offers fun for children and adults alike. Their mission now includes conservation and education about animals and their habitats. The entire family can enjoy the animals and learn a little as well.

If your taste runs to outdoor activities then consider Walnut Woods State Park. It is a 260 acre land preserved forest that meets at the Racoon River in Des Moines. You can do any number of activities, from river rafting to hunting, hiking, camping, fishing, bird watching, horseback riding and all sorts of other outdoor fun. The enjoyment is limitless and the best part is the preserves are open all year long.

If you’re interested in history then the Jordan House is a must visit. This house was known as a stop on the famous Underground Railroad. The owner of the house, James Jordan, was an abolitionist who took this issue to heart by helping slaves escape to freedom. Today his house is a museum and a place to learn about America’s past.

Another historical house to visit is the Wallace House. It is the former home of agricultural secretary Henry Wallace. It is an historical landmark and does offer tours.

If you really have an interest in historical houses, you should add the Mathias Ham House to your itinerary. It is one of the oldest houses in the state and built by the architect for the state capitol, John F. Rague. It is located in Dubuque, Iowa, but its close enough to make a nice day trip. It does have a log cabin located next to the mansion that might be of particular interest.

If you have the time, take a walk through the Iowa State University campus. It has a reputation as a pristine campus and it is filled with numerous historical buildings. It might be an enjoyable way to spend part of your vacation.

Baseball is a great past time and Iowa does have a Minor league team that plays in the area. They’re called the Iowa Cubs and are actually affiliated with the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Stop by and see a game, you never know which one of these players will eventually be sent up to the major leagues. It’s a way to see baseball stars before they were stars, or a way to just have a good time at a game.

Finally, if you simply want to relax and play a good game of golf then take a look at Willow Creek Golf course. It has 36 holes and is considered to be one of the best golf courses in Des Moines. Go out to the driving range, swing a few clubs, and just enjoy vacationing in Iowa.

Too many sales people focus on price and forget about value. Price is simply what you charge. Value is the sum total of all of the positive effects that the product or service has on the buyer’s business. In most cases, your offering has many benefits for the customer. Each of those has a corresponding value that adds to the equation. Business customers buy because they believe that they will get value that is significantly larger than the cost. In fact, most buyers are unaware of many of the benefits of their purchases and therefore underestimate the value they receive.

Every price is too high without an appreciation of value.

If that is true, so is this:

Every price the customer offers, before they understand the value, is too low!

Could that be why you lose proposals that simply respond to RFP’s? Maybe the customer can’t find your value in that sterilized document?

Could that be why you lose when you respond to the caller who says, “I just need a price?” Maybe they think you are just like everyone else. After all, you did not bother to tell them any differently.

Hey, we all reject stuff we don’t understand.

How many times have you seen someone handing out free stuff on the street or in the mall and simply passed them buy. It’s FREE and you won’t take it! You don’t see the value.

To increase our chances of making the sale, we must do three things to ensure that we have maximized value in the customer’s mind:

1. Understand their business

You must understand your customer’s business well enough to explain to them how your offering will improve their bottom line. This means asking more questions and doing more research before making your proposal. The good news is that once you understand one company in a given industry, most of the others will have similar circumstances.

Example:

A distributor of Swiss watches was trying to get a container load to their US jewelers in time for the critical pre-Christmas buying season. She was shopping for shippers and two responded. One offered a price that was $9,000 and assured the shipper that they could get them there on time. They had years of experience and many testimonials that showed that they had done it before. The second shipper cut the price in half and guaranteed that if the shipment was late, they would rebate 100% of the fee.

Which shipper won the business?

The first one.

They knew that a container of Swiss watches holds 5,000 watches with a retail price of $3,000 each or 15 million dollars. If the container arrive late, the watches will have to be sold at an after Christmas discount. That’s a loss of $1.5 million! Clearly the distributor would care more about the reliability of company A than the potential $4,500 rebate from company B.

2. Maximize your value

If is often true that different people in the buying organization will see different value in your offering. In the example above, the person on the loading dock might like the lower price. But the product manager, the CEO and others will appreciate the value of reliable service.

Identify all those departments in the buying company who might see value in your offering. Make sure they know what you are proposing and get them to be internal advocates for your solution. When you get a large enough cheering section, it’s like having a “home team” advantage.

3. Include your value in your proposal and quote.

Too often, we make our value propositions in a face to face discussion with the buyer. Then, when we believe the sale has been made, we formalize the number in a quotation or proposal. In many cases, one or more people may review this before it is signed off. Even the best sales people get blindsided by a last-minute influencer that was not disclosed earlier. When that person sees the numbers with no sense of the value, they may reject the proposal as over priced. Head this off by adding to the proposal, a summary of the value that you and the buyer agreed on.

This is the subject of chapter 12 of my new book, The Team Selling Solution: Creating and Managing Teams that Win the Complex Sales. Click on the link to learn more about it and to hear a sample of the book on CD.

So what about Bill and that $12 deal?

The customer had called Bill because he wanted a supplier who was open longer hours than his current supplier. Bill’s company is open 24-7-365. He told Bill why he wanted to switch and that he was currently paying $13 and bought thousands each year. That’s when he offered Bill the business at $12.

Bill’s mistake?

He failed to see that the customer was currently paying $13 for less service and wanted more. The customer saw value in Bill’s hours of operation. If Bill had asked why the extended hours were so important, he would have learned that the customer was paying overtime to work with the other company’s shorter hours. This move would save them many times the cost of the service. Bill could easily have justified an increase to $15 and still won the contract! His failure to see his value cost his company thousands of dollars and cost him some nice commissions.

Remember: Think Value and Win More Sales

For a free copy of “20 Questions That Uncover Your Value”, please email article18@waterhousegroup.com and ask for article #18.

Stephen Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse Group (http://www.waterhousegroup.com/), a sales training company that helps companies increase their sales and profits. He can be reached at 1-800-57-LEARN or steve@waterhousegroup.com.

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The complete tag with the author’s name and contact information is included immediately after the article. A copy of the printed article is mailed to the author at 1467 Walnut Creek Drive, Orange Park, FL 32003 within 30 days of publication. The article is presented in a positive light as part of an appropriate business related publication.

I’ve been receiving a great many letters lately that go something like this! “I’m about to turn 50 and I’ve just started planning for retirement! Any ideas?” Great question! Something you should have asked 15 to 20 years ago but never mind, better late than never.

Most of the mail comes from self-employed people who broke the number one cardinal rule of self-employment – they didn’t pay themselves first. They put everything back into their business. This predicament is a common one. The Employee Benefits Research Institute reports that more than half of the self-employed aged between 45 to 54 have saved less than $50,000 for retirement. A recent Fidelity study found that the average baby boomer is on track to replace just 60% of his or her current income in retirement, even with help from Social Security and pensions.

Why are we so unprepared? The simple explanation to this question is that we as baby boomers are a generation of grasshoppers who fiddled away our youth when we should have been saving. You could say that the financial pressures we all face have made it very tough for us to save. The list normally starts with college fees and helping aging parents, higher prices for housing and medical insurance. We baby boomers have never been one for self-denial If we wanted it, we got it.

You’ve all heard this advice before, save as much as you can in an IRA or 401K plan. At 50, you are more than likely to have entered your peak earning years. Let’s say you channel an annual 3% raise into a retirement plan. That’s another $2,250 in savings if you’re making $75,000 a year. Saving the equivalent of an extra $10 a day in an IRA or 401K will increase your savings by more than $100,000 over 15 years if your investments earns you 8% a year.

The IRS rules allows workers over the age of 50 to put more money into individual retirement accounts and workplace retirement plans. For 401Ks, this catch-up provision brings your maximum contribution to $20,000 a year. Assuming you’re eligible, choose the immediate tax break that comes with a deductible IRA rather than a Roth IRA’s tax free withdrawals. “If you’re behind on retirement saving, your tax bracket will probably be lower in retirement than it is now,” reasons financial planner Greg Schultz of Retirement Planning in Walnut Creek, Calif. The immediate tax break is worth more to you.”

If, like most of us, you haven’t managed to save to much by 50, it’s more likely because you spend more than you can afford. There’s a silver lining to this, the worse our spending habits, the more room there is for improvement.

The first thing to do is create a budget. If you already have one, revise it to reflect your new goals and target. You should organize your outlays by category, and try to identify the areas that are stopping you from reaching those goals and targets. Try to stop the wasteful or bad habits and chances are over the last five decades you have developed a few.

Whatever you do, you must save more, downsize, rethink your retirement age – it’s time for action. Once you get started, you’ll going to feel much better, and for good reason. Just facing the issue head on will give you hope. There’s no need to be fearful of the future anymore.

Your” Money Matters By Carl Hampton the bestselling Author of “From Credit Despair To Credit Millionaire”

Have an opinion or a question you would like me to answer, then write me! http://wwwCarlHampton.com

Affiliate programs are a great opportunity of making money online. Affiliate marketing is so lucrative that you will find thousands of programs to choose from. With so many options available, choosing the best affiliate program for your business can sometimes take a bit of time and effort. In fact you may make a few mistakes before settling into the ultimate profit-generating affiliate partnership.

To find your suitable affiliate partner there are a few things you need to look for: -

? The first thing to check out is the affiliate program’s terms of service. For instance, if you intend to use Google Adwords but your potential affiliate partner does not allow Google Adwords for marketing, signing up will not prove fruitful. Thus, reading through the terms and conditions of prospective affiliates is a must. Steer clear of any affiliate programs which do not publicly post their terms of service.

? Also ensure that the potential affiliate partner has clear payment specifications. These specifics will help you find out how much money you can earn and how often the payments will come in. You may receive a fixed amount for every sale generated or a certain percentage. For instance, if you are to receive 10% of the sale, and you generate a sale of $100, your earning will be of $10. If the product is good there will be several such sales and the earnings will accrue.

? Before agreeing to promote your affiliate programs product, it is very important to check out how their website looks. The way a website looks plays a very important role in how well you can earn money promoting their products or services. For instance, you visit the website of a possible affiliate partner and find out that the website is crowded with several advertisements. Affiliate Programs will generate income for you only if a sale is made. If a potential customer follows the lead from your website to the affiliate programs only to click on one of the advertisements there, you make no money in the process.

The above are starter tips to help you set up a profitable affiliate partnership. Ensure that your affiliate program website caters to products and services that are similar to your line of business. Furthermore, do not have more than 2 affiliate programs at the same time. Place the banners at strategic locations and make sure they gel in with your website and do not stand out as advertisements. Also, concentrate on good content, good color schemes and keep the background uncluttered. All this well help your visitors locate the affiliate add easily, and if they find it interesting, they?ll click on it. If this visit gets converted into a sale, you earn cash. It?s simple, yet complicated. Caution is the key word. If you observe the above mentioned guidelines, you?re sure to find success and make fast money.

Become an affiliate and gain great commissions by joining Paynet Affiliate Programs

For more information on Affiliate Marketing, visit our website www.paynetsystems.com

Paynet Systems is a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Walnut Creek, CA.

Paynet Systems facilitates internet, retail, mail/phone order, wireless/mobile and home based merchant accounts for businesses worldwide. Paynet system has formed lasting partnerships with established banks and affiliates to provide one of the world?s top merchant account services. Paynet Systems is well known as a provider of complete, yet flexible solutions for merchant accounts.

Besides comprehensive credit card processing solutions, Paynet Systems offers a great affiliate program! The Affiliate program at Paynet System includes and offers:-

? An opportunity to make $50-$100 for every approved merchant account generated by your website or referred to us verbally.

? A “No Monthly Minimum” program

? $50 for each referral that signs up for the “No Monthly Minimum” option.

? An “Option 2″- lower rates, a lower statement fee and transaction fee, but includes a $25 monthly minimum.

? A $100 referral fee if your referral signs up for “Option 2″ pricing.

? Reliability – We have been paying affiliates on time, every month.

? Professional 24/7 customer support, sales support and full accounting support.

? Real-time statistics for sales and traffic directed to the Paynet website.

? Pending payout details

? Earning reports

? Account management, and much more!

Join the Paynet Systems Affiliate Program now and earn revenue for every merchant you refer! Visit http://www.paynetsystems.com/html/affiliates.htm to read the affiliate programs ?terms and conditions? and to fill out the affiliate online application. Once you?re approved, you may either place a link of Paynet Systems on your website, or verbally refer someone and provide them your affiliate ID and contact information. You get paid with each referral that signs up for services. Paynet Systems takes pride in superior service and pricing to each referral and is recognized for its affiliate program, which has been featured in ?Gr1innovations.com Directory of Ways to Make Money?.

There is no cost to sign up with Paynet Systems Affiliate program, and no risk to get started – so why not join today? The affiliate program at Paynet Systems is a profit sharing platform, ideal for anyone looking for great ways to make money on the internet. Sign Up now to become a Paynet Systems value added affiliate!

Become an affiliate and gain great commissions by joining Paynet Affiliate Programs

For more information on Affiliate Marketing, visit our website www.paynetsystems.com

Paynet Systems is a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Walnut Creek, CA.

Today, an integral participant in Internet Advertising is Affiliate Marketing, which is a unique method of promoting online businesses. It is an output-oriented and performance-based marketing, where affiliates get paid for performance and completed sales. Affiliate marketing uses one site to drive traffic to another!

Are you a merchant looking to gain affiliates? There are certain criteria you need to evaluate to determine if the program will be successful on your site:

Audience:

Does the product or services of your potential affiliate match the audience of your website, and visa versa? If you are running a site for selling credit card equipment, will your audience be especially interested in a website selling toys? Probably not! This means, there must be some similarity or meeting point between the products and services of your own website and that of your affiliate. For instance, the advertisement of a catering service or flower decoration service on a wedding planner?s website is apt, and the visitors to such a website would definitely be looking for the other two services as well. This way leads are easily converted into sales!

Interest:

Again, you need to gauge what service or product, similar to your own would interest your website audience. The perfect affiliate programs for your website are ones which your audience will be specifically interested in while at your website. If yours is a credit card equipment selling website, the visitors to your website would perhaps want to be directed to web pages that either inform them about credit card processing or provide merchant account services.

Type of Offer:

There are three basic types of affiliate programs- which pay for each click-through, for leads, or for sales. 80% of affiliate programs today use revenue share (Cost per sale) as compensation method. The remaining 19% use Cost per Action, which may include every visitor, subscriber, customer, and/or sale provided through the affiliate website.

Commission:

the commission is the amount you are paid for each click, lead, or sale. The commission rate may of course vary from website to website. Clicks pay less. Hundreds of clicks on one ad may pay only $0.01 per click, and you may not earn much. A lead that pays $2 would be better; otherwise you would need to generate 200 clicks to earn the same amount. An affiliate program paying $50 or $ 100 commission on a sale of a product sounds great, but for the association to be worthwhile, you would have to sell as much as you can in a month.

One such profitable affiliate partnership is offered by Paynet Systems at http://www.paynetsystems.com/html/affiliates.htm that can earn you $50-$100 for every approved merchant account generated by your website or referred verbally. Join the Paynet Systems Affiliate Program and partner with the leader in Merchant account services.

Like Paynet Systems, you too must consider the above 4 criteria when choosing affiliate programs and you?re sure to not only receive more responses, but also, more healthy profit from your website!

Become an affiliate and gain great commissions by joining Paynet Affiliate Programs

For more information on Affiliate Marketing, visit our website www.paynetsystems.com

Paynet Systems is a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Walnut Creek, CA.

Let’s face it: being on a reality show isn’t all that easy. You got cameras following your every move, not to mention the emotional rollercoaster ride and eventually, the defeat you have to face if you’re not one of the chosen few to emerge victorious in the competition. Sheena Stewart has been there and done that, as she was not chosen to be the ultimate sweetheart of Brad Womack on The Bachelor. However, it isn’t all that depressing for her as she has actually garnered many viewers from her stint on the reality series.

As for the comments on the BuddyTV site, Stewart seems to be an audience favorite, as people view her in a positive light. Despite her falling off the stairs, she seems to have established a positive image from the show.

Recently, the reality TV star talked more about her experience on The Bachelor, what she felt before and after her work on the show. She says she “had never even thought about ever going on reality TV,” but after spending Friday nights alone, she became inspired to take a chance at finding true love in the reality series. After watching a season ender online, she was convinced she was a “hopeless romantic.”

“At the very end I saw [Andy Baldwin] propose to [Tessa Horst], and I was like, ?God I want that!’” the 23-year-old Internet marketing executive from Walnut Creek , California said. “It was sort of a cheesy moment, but I was on the phone with my really good friend from New York , and she was like, ?You should apply.’”

A little more convincing later and she submitted her application to ABC, who picked her to be in the final group, even if casting was almost over. She admitted being a little disappointed at Brad Womack who highly regarded her but did not choose her in the end. Despite that, she is happy with the experience, adding that she gained close friends in the house, including Hillary. Stewart believes that among the girls, Hillary really did have genuine feelings for Brad. Lastly, she thinks that Jenni is really Brad’s type, among all the women.

For more resources about The Bachelor or for the full story of Sheena Stewart Talks About The Bachelor please review http://www.buddytv.com

SACRAMENTO, CA, DECEMBER 20- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger performed a symbolic menorah lighting at the State Capitol today as part of the 12th annual Chabad Chanukah celebration. The Governor joined with Rabbi Boruch S. Cunin, Director of West Coast Chabad-Lubavitch, and other Chabad representatives to share messages of holiday cheer with the people of California.

After greeting the crowd with ?Shalom,? Governor Schwarzenegger called the people of Chabad ?heroes? who have had ?an unbelievable impact on thousands and thousands of people.? Standing before the Capitol building in Sacramento, he thanked the charitable group for its ?great contribution to the state.?

Before the menorah lighting, the Governor recalled how the Maccabees of ancient Israel defied their oppressors to reclaim the Temple and experienced ?the miracle of the oil? that lit a menorah for eight days even though it was only a single day?s supply. ?The menorah is a powerful symbol of faith,? Governor Schwarzenegger said, ?It has been sustained by tradition and empowered by the courage of the Jewish people.?

During the event, Rabbi Cunin presented a large, ornate dreidel as a gift to the Governor and people of California. The dreidel?s base was inscribed with a quote from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, that read: ?The spirit of Chanukah is experienced when we apply its joy, warmth, and light to our lives not only with our loved ones, but with the entire world.?

In his remarks, Rabbi Cunin said, ?All the power everyone speaks of as the power of Chabad is really the power of light, including the light of our Rebbe.? The Rabbi spoke of the miracle of Chanukah and its enduring message of light overcoming darkness, adding that, ?The way we combat darkness is by lighting a candle.?

Rabbi Cunin also noted that the Hebrew letter for light has a numerical value of 207 ? which is the exact number of years since the founder of Chabad, Rabbi Schneur Zalman, was released from his imprisonment in Czarist Russia. The Rabbi?s liberation on the 19th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev is a key date for Chabad Chassidism, since after his release he spread his teachings on a broader scale than ever before.

Rabbi Mendy Cohen, Director of Chabad of Sacramento, told the audience that courage is rewarded with miracles. He listed examples ranging from the Maccabees and the menorah, to Rabbi Schneur Zalman?s release from prison, to the incredible growth of Chabad in California under the guidance of the Rebbe. He also praised Governor Schwarzenegger?s courage, and quipped that he is ?the most powerful Governor in the union, both physically and spiritually.?

Serving as emcee for the event was Michael Helfant, the President and COO of Marvel Studios, who has been a friend of Chabad for two decades. ?Most days, I work with superheroes like Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four,? he said, ?But today, I am here to celebrate with some very different superheroes? The people of Chabad are heroes who accomplish miraculous feats each day. As we celebrate the miracles of Chanukah, they are spreading a powerful message of hope and light.?

David Akov, Israel?s Consul General in S. Francisco, also spoke to the crowd in Sacramento. He brought greetings from the Holy Land for ?the holiday of lights and freedom,? calling Chanukah ?a universal celebration all over the world.? Before the symbolic menorah lighting, Rabbi Cunin offered prayers and remembrances for the victims of the natural disasters of 2005.

Fifteen Chabad schools from across California were represented onstage. Each school undertook a special Menorah Project, holding contests in which their students hand-decorated menorahs to convey the holiday?s universal message and beauty. One student from each school came with his or her own creation to display for the Governor. The unique menorahs included a colorful Lego candelabrum, a log covered with leaves, and a line of candleholders made from Schwarzenegger action figures atop the message, ?The Jewish people said: ?I?ll be back.??

The Sid Engel Orchestra provided festive holiday music for the event, and there was also a performance by the Chabad Tiny Tots Choir. The children in the choir each had a headdress topped with a symbolic flame, and they also wore silver letters that together spelled out the word ?Chanukah.?

At the end of the celebration, donated gifts were distributed to audience members so that they in turn could present them to someone less fortunate during Chanukah. After helping distribute those gifts, Governor Schwarzenegger joined a number of Chabad rabbis onstage for a high-spirited dance.

Editor?s Note: The schools represented at the ceremony were the Chabad Hebrew School of Glendale, the Chabad Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, the Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School of Los Angeles, the Bais Rebbe Junior High for Girls of Los Angeles, the Chabad Youth Group of Noe Valley, the Chabad Hebrew School of Palo Alto, the Chabad Hebrew School of Sacramento, the Chabad Hebrew School of S. Clarita Valley, the Chabad Hebrew School of S. Cruz, the Chabad Hebrew Academy of S. Diego, the Chabad Hebrew School of S. Jose, the Chabad Hebrew School of Sunnyvale, the Reisman Family Chabad Hebrew School of Tarzana, the Chabad Youth Zone of Tri Valley, and the Chabad Hebrew School of Walnut Creek.