I created a user account for you to use our database, and assigned a "test company" to you, so you could see how it works. Instructions & advice Open the database by going to www.packagingeuropedirectory.com. User ID: (Sensurert av johncons-blogg) Password: (Sensurert av johncons-blogg) Here you will find a test company that have been assigned to you. If you click on the company, its records open. The first "Company Details" page displays general information: such as address, telephone, fax, email, website, two contact names, turnover, number of employees, company activity (manufacturer / wholesaler / sales agent / other services). Press "Edit Company" to add or change information listed here. By the way, the "Description" field is there just for your information – we tell you what we believe the company's main product or service to be, to make your task easier. This information will not appear in the directory, so it is not necessary to change it. Similarly, the "Notes" field is for your use, in case you need to record information about calling the company again, etc. At the bottom of the page is a Products & Services section. Any products / services that have already been entered are listed here. Press "Add Categories" to enter a menu of products and services. The three top-level categories are Materials (companies that produce / sell packaging materials and packaging made of the listed materials), Machinery (companies that produce / sell machinery used in the packaging industry) and Services (companies and organisations that provide other services for the packaging industry). For each of these, there is selection of sub-categories in the left-hand column. For example, the sub-categories for Materials are "Glass", "Ceramics", etc. Selecting one of these sub-categories in turn creates a range of options in the next three columns. You can then create a detailed product description by ticking boxes in each column. For example: click "Materials", then "Metal". Then tick "Material: Bottles" and "Type: Extruded" in the Product / Type column, "Aluminium" in the Material column, and "Non-alcoholic drinks: carbonated" in the End Use Sector column (which means the products that will be packaged). Press "apply" to save and enter a new category, or "save and back" to save and return to the main company page. The database will record this as one category: that is "Extruded bottles made from aluminium for the carbonated drinks sector." This is now displayed at the bottom of the main "Company Details" page, where it can be deleted if necessary. Please note that if a company makes several different products (e.g. bottles, boxes and cans), they need to be entered as separate categories. If you tick all three at once, they will be recorded as one product. It is especially important to our directory that we record as many product / service details as possible, including End Use Sector. You will also notice that there are some fields followed by "+". If you press this +, some further sub-categories are revealed. The more detail, the better! I am willing to increase the payment rates for researchers you provide consistently detailed information I am sure this seems complicated! However, there are two features that make the task easier: o The language of the Products & Services menu can be changed, so there is no need to translate technical terms. o You can send an email that gives the company access to its own entry in the database. In this way, the company can select the right categories. Instead of spending 10 minutes asking an employee to list products, you can focus on persuaded them to do the work for you, and reminding them a few days later. I believe this will speed up your work (and therefore increase the amount of money you can earn per day). This function can be used by pressing "Email Company" on the "Company Details" page. You can then press "Edit Email" and then type or paste a message in your own language. The login ID & password for the company will automatically be included at the bottom of the letter. By the way, replies to these emails will come to us, and we can forward them to you if necessary. Please note that it is usually necessary to telephone a company as well as emailing in order to encourage them to respond. I attached letters to companies translated into languages you speak. You can change them as you like. When you finish working on a company file, you can press "Complete company". The database then automatically gives the company a new status – if you have completed the basic information (at least address, telephone, email, company activity and one contact name) and entered a product / service category, it records a status of "cleaned". If there is only the basic information but no product / service category, the status is "partially cleaned". If you contact the company and find that it is does not belong to the criteria we need, then you press "Mark as Irrelevant" and the status becomes "Irrelevant" (the information we have is not always reliable – so you may find that quite a lot of companies are "irrelevant"). After you have pressed "Complete Company" or "Mark as Irrelevant", the file is closed, and can only be reopened by an administrator. So be careful not to press these buttons unless you are sure you have finished work on the company. (Data you have entered is still saved if you press "Back to main menu".) Advice about speaking to companies The important thing to make clear is that Packaging Europe is not selling anything: we will list the company (however big or small) for free. The directory will then be sold across the world to companies that want to buy packaging. Therefore, it is a big advantage for companies to cooperate with you. If the person you talk to is in a hurry or is not interested in cooperating, you can remind him / her that the more categories you enter, the more times the company will appear in this major directory. If they are uncertain about who you are and who we are, you can tell them that Packaging Europe, established in 2005, is now the leading website www.packagingeurope.com and magazine for news, analysis and information about the European packaging industry. I will be happy to answer any questions. ( irina@packagingeurope.com / +44 1603 414 444) It is also useful to remember that the basic information can usually be supplied by the receptionist who first answers your call: whether the company actually has something to do with packaging; contact details; size of company, etc. However, that person cannot usually provide the product / services information. Therefore, after getting this first information, it is worth asking for someone in the sales or marketing department. Making calls Please choose the cheapest available tariff and let us know the cost in advance, so we can agree to that. When you send your bill for work done, include your telephone expenses, indicating the number of minutes. From the database (and from quality checks on your work) we know how many companies you have contacted. We also know approximately how long it takes to talk to each company, because we have 50 people doing the same job in other countries. Therefore, as long as your telephone claim is close to the expected figure, we will not ask for documentary proof of the calls you made. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Please let me know when you are ready to start so I can assign companies to you. Look forward to hear from you. Kind regards Irina Ball | 
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