The Navigator May 2005

MAY 2005

IN THIS ISSUE

· XALLES NEWS: New Website & Recent Customer Transactions
· CUSTOMER FOCUS: ASJB Software in Foreign Markets

· CREATIVITY INFUSION: Trade Show Sales Secrets

· CHAIRMAN'S CORNER: Continuous Education

NEWS

New Website

Xalles recently launched a new website design to align with our new business structure. The new client-focused site also reflects the company's mission of improving clients' bottom line by adding value through the services Xalles offers. Clients now have access to free audio recordings, proactive emails, and reports detailing trends and techniques that will improve our clients' organizations. Please visit www.xalles.com to see the new look!

Recent Customer Transactions

Within the last month Xalles signed contracts with two more Brazilian based firms specializing in the IT industry. Ci&T is a corporation with expertise in component-based software solutions for e-business. They are recognized in the market as a corporation committed to technological evolution, deadlines, innovation and excellence for the products and services they provide. Xalles and Ci&T will participate in joint marketing activities to promote both companies' services within North America, a relatively new market for Ci&T. In addition, Xalles will provide systems implementation services to Ci&T and its clients.

Sebrae/CE is a non-profit, private institution supporting the development of small and mid-sized businesses in Ceara state in Brazil. Sebrae has chosen Xalles as a business strategy consultant to provide its information technology members with international marketing strategy advice and help with their expansion of distribution channels. Xalles will initially work with 6 firms to prepare them for launching their company and products in foreign markets.

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CUSTOMER FOCUS

Unique South American Software Shows Potential in Foreign Markets

ASJB WinMaster

ASJB WinMaster is a software solutions firm with offices in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Petropolis in Brazil. The company's mission is to add intelligence and technology to the development of business solutions. The firm is made up of highly qualified and experienced technicians that use the most modern and up-to-date philosophies and methodologies. ASJB WinMaster currently provides customized solutions for clients in South America and Europe.

ASJB WinMaster currently offer three distinctive software product lines; WinDocument (document management), Fidelity (Customer Relationship Management), and Biometric Security Solutions.

WinDocument is a software program that man ag es do cument and data storage and retrieval. ASJB WinMaster's new web interface for the system acts as an electronic filing cabinet that allows for easy distribution and retrieval of documents over a corporate network or the Internet. WinDocument lets you archive documents in a Windows environment with an easy-to-use interface. WinDocument is easy to integrate with MS Office products and other existing company systems, therefore documents can easily be fed automatically from other systems. Digitalized documents and other types of documents such as Microsoft Office, PDF, etc. can be stored in the same system. Documents have versioning control that makes it possible to control the workflow for each document allowing you to only publish the final version when it is completed. The system also lets you create comments for each document version during the creation process and key words can also be aggregated to the documents, gaining flexibility when doing searches. WinDocument also provides a logical storage structure that permits searches in specific subfolders, therefore allowing you to define which folders can be returned by an internet search. WinDocument's web based interface lets users and managers view and use al l the features of the workflow process in an integrated way without a large infrastructure investment. WinDocument has been used to store over 6 million documents just for one client alone. It has been successfully used for software security, law offices, certification companies and hospitals.

Fidelity is ASJB WinMaster's CRM system (customer relationship m anagement). The product allows organizations to transfer customer data from the salesperson to software and from software to corporate knowledge. Fidelity tracks and analyses explicit information on current customers as well as sales prospects. The product can be used to support various activities in any organization including: marketing, support services, channel management, revenue management, contact management, proposal management, resource allocation/management, forecasting, manufacturing, logistics and even research and development. Fidelity is a valuable and robust CRM system as it allows for customization of proposals and is the most economical product of its kind for many foreign markets.

AJSB-WinMaster's Biometric security solutions permit the development of functionalities from recognition of fingerprints, identification through the human iris, voice and face recognition. The solutions assure an individual identification, in a method that allows the control of the conditional access to places and information systems, as well as secures the identity for online transactions. ASJB-WinMaster's Biometric technology currently offers a line of solutions that provides enhanced security and comfort to the access of local networks, software applications, directories and archives, as well as web applications. The Biometric solutions also help in the control of physical access through controlling door openers and release of ratchets, all of this using the fingerprint or the iris scan. Biometric is a valuable tool for financial corporations, insurance companies, airports, enterprise centres, hospitals, hotels, schools, temporary employment or consulting, criminal solutions, government solutions, chemical industry, health care, and any process, computerized or not, that requires secure authentication and consent. Biometry has been implicit as a recognized tool of value, being more secure than the alternatives of access (passwords, pins, usernames etc.) which can be lost, forgotten, stolen, constantly alternated, duplicated and often bothersome.

ASJB-WinMaster clients have continually expressed their satisfaction with the company's unique software. "ASJB-WinMaster is an exceptional company, always creating valuable and easy to use solutions. They are constantly offering state of the art technology. We are very pleased with the WinDocument software. It has been a very valuable solution to our company," comments Carlos Renato de Barros, Gerente de Informática da Braslight.

Xalles is currently working with ASJB to assist them in their international expansion efforts. Their product lines show potential in a number of markets in which Xalles participates. ASJB has been a successful company in South America for some time and they look to the future with a great outlook.

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CREATIVITY INFUSION

Trade Show Sales Secrets

Companies spend millions each year attending and exhibiting at trade shows. The primary goal for most companies is to increase sales as a result of their participation in a trade show. Below are some ideas you can apply to maximize the return on investment at any trade show.

1. Choose the right shows to attend. Defining your market segmentation is the first step to being able to choose the right events. Acquire information from the event organizers on past event success and attendance. More important than how many people were there is what is the profile of the people there. Most event organizers will say "decision-makers" but find out from other past attendees and lists if that really was the case.

2. Preparation. Do not underestimate the amount of effort required to "properly" attend a trade show. Any company can simply send people to a show, but to actually sell something requires a sound strategy and a lot of planning. If you are not preparing for a trade show at least 6 months before the show and in many cases 12 months before the show, you are not really prepared and you may be wasting more money going to the show than staying back at the office. Spend your time preparing well in advance.

3. The form of your participation. In order of priority and benefit to your firm: #1 speaking opportunities, #2 exhibiting, #3 walking around as an attendee and #4 sponsorship. Speaking on a relevant topic to your company builds credibility and provides opportunities to speak to the press, event organizers and "sell" your products and your company in an educational, "non-sales" format. Exhibiting can be very profitable if the preparation is completed well and accompanied by a speaking role. Walking around is usually ineffective as a seller since most exhibits are staffed with salespeople, not your buyers. Sponsorship is usually very ineffective unless used as a bribe for event organizers to give you something. Most sponsorship money gets used for events that have very little to do with your company.

4. Contacting people before the show. One of the secrets to trade show success is having prearranged meetings. If your product or service is of interest to a particular prospect then they should be willing to spend some time with you while they are at the show. Contacting them with teaser marketing information a couple of months before the show is key. This should be followed-up 3-5 weeks before the event by setting up specific meetings for the show at your exhibit, meeting room or hotel lobby. This will help you schedule your remaining free time at the event as well as improve your chances for sales.

5. Finding buyers at the show. The decision makers unfortunately do not wear signs indicating that they are prospective buyers of your products. You also cannot guarantee that they will approach you at your booth or see your keynote speech or seminar. You will often have to hunt these people down at the after-hours dinners, parties and events that are planned. If you are not involved in these events, you could miss out on the best sales opportunities.

6. Get creative. Making a big impact on the senses is the only way to separate your company from the competition and get noticed. What makes your exhibit space look different from all the other booths? Creative designs do not have to be expensive designs. Is your sign and message relevant to your products and thought-provoking at the same time? Is your sales staff organized to tell the visitors something interesting and educational? Have you thought about ways that visitors can participate in some activity in your exhibit space? What sights, sounds, and smells are associated with your presentation, exhibit space or special event you have organized for attendees?

Business is done one person at a time. Trade Shows are an excellent opportunity to increase your sales and progress your business development efforts by meeting the right decision makers. If you are like most companies you are not getting the maximum results from your participation. If you are going to go to a show, then make sure you are an active participant, not a spectator, and then you will increase your sales results.

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THE CHAIRMAN'S CORNER

Continuous Education

In the complex business environment we work in today, no one individual or company has all the answers. We feel it is important to keep our customers informed and educated about tools, techniques and trends that could help their business. With this goal in mind, I am pleased to announce some new educational services available free to our customers and partners. This month we will distribute our first mailing of "Xalles Tips for Business Success". This short email will capture ideas and techniques in summary form that most businesses can apply immediately. Additional information about these topics will be contained in reports which we will publish periodically on our web site. I will also personally be broadcasting a new audio recording each month called "New Coordinates". This short audio format will cover a key trend that can affect your business and this will be updated monthly. Plans are also in place to soon offer free web seminars dealing with effective systems implementation. I encourage you to take advantage of these new services on the path of continuous education. Please visit www.xalles.com for more information and to register for these new free services.

TWN.

Thomas W. Nash is the Chairman and CEO of Xalles Limited, with offices in the US, Canada and Ireland.

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For previous issues of The Navigator please click on the following:

January 2005

October 2004

May 2004