tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70027662024-03-23T13:23:20.134-05:00Small Business CEO Assisting Small Business CEO's in growing their business by providing
focused information, resources, services and adviceUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger683125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-56503394128786761762007-06-13T08:29:00.000-05:002007-06-13T08:32:40.884-05:00Delegation in a Virtual WorldIn today’s microenterprise world where many times there is only one person actually in the business, delegation takes on a whole new meaning. <br /><br />Typically even a microenterprise has to perform the same functions as a larger business but they tend to use outside suppliers and partners to perform and manage those functions.<br /><br />For example: Most of us don’t host our own websites or email or e-newsletter systems, we delegate that to an outside provider. <br /><br />If we process credit cards we might use Paypal or another merchant account supplier along with our bank.<br /><br />Almost all of us outsource our legal needs to a local firm or possibly even one of the new online legal firms that provides legal support for a fixed monthly subscription fee.<br /><br />Many of us outsource various marketing functions, like public relations, offline communications like brochures and advertising or probably even some online items like banner design, web design and copywriting.<br /><br />Ok, I just listed IT, Finance, Legal and Marketing as quick examples of the type of work we are already delegating to others. So we don’t have employees to delegate to we are still doing plenty of delegating.<br /><br />So how do we insure that we can choose and use outside providers effectively?<br /><br />I like to use what I call the 3 C’s, Capability, Credibility and Cost.<br /><br /><strong>Credibility</strong>: Of course you have to make an effort to identify suppliers of external services, how most of us start is asking our friends and business associates if they know someone. We all tend to place higher value on those who we are referred to. Of course that doesn’t mean that the entity referred will work for you. After all if a lawyer of a big firm refers you to a marketing person how well does he understand your actual needs? He works in a big company his referral may not be very accurate, but most of us will at least have a conversation with the referred party<br /><br />That takes me to another of my C’s, <strong>Capability</strong>: Regardless of how you find a supplier of course you want to understand their capability. After all you are literally going to place a piece of your business success in their hands. Because of this be sure to take the time to seriously evaluate their services, get references, ask for a trial use, in other words do some serious due diligence. You may be talking about what will turn out to be a pretty lengthy relationship. Finally, trust your gut, do you like the people, would you enjoy working with them, do they seem to be service oriented?<br /><br />Finally the last C, <strong>Cost</strong>: Many times I have been penny wise and pound foolish. To save a dime I choose a supplier of some type that my gut tells me might be a problem but based on being frugal I decide to give the supplier a try only to have to start all over and spend the time to find a new one. The opportunity cost I incur is almost always much greater than the savings I might have achieved with the first supplier. <br /><br />I hope this helps you in some small way, it is not an exhaustive lesson in how to do service provider delegation but I just wanted to help you add to your toolkit of effective delegation in our virtual world.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-26465764924762591012007-06-04T11:20:00.000-05:002007-06-04T11:40:04.183-05:00You’re Not After Clicks… You’re After Sales!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pDoqxn-CrxKtarBDrcyTkVsw6KtrZaLVSZ9JDBhi6lpo3gMNxQeGdN30O1rIgJL94d9NBQUTy7gQbBVVb44swcwVTe8aBshM5XkUT7iZGbVZa6NHupzV_GmL4CjGnXXG2B6i/s1600-h/Caroline+Melberg.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pDoqxn-CrxKtarBDrcyTkVsw6KtrZaLVSZ9JDBhi6lpo3gMNxQeGdN30O1rIgJL94d9NBQUTy7gQbBVVb44swcwVTe8aBshM5XkUT7iZGbVZa6NHupzV_GmL4CjGnXXG2B6i/s200/Caroline+Melberg.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5072249576882309058" /></a><br />My thanks to a special guest blogger, Caroline Melberg of <a href="http://SmallBusinessMavericks.com"target="_blank">SmallBusinessMavericks.com</a>. This is a content and practical advice packed post, take your time and absorb.<br /><br />It’s no secret that in today’s world, online success depends in large part on how much traffic you drive to your site. The amount of traffic you get depends on your search engine optimization. When your site is primed for search engine optimization, you get tons of traffic coming to you for free. Great, right?<br /> <br />Of course! You see, on the web you have a choice - you can pay Google or Yahoo tons of your hard earned cash for PPC clicks, or you can search engine optimize your site to drive new customers to you. And I’ll give you a hint – search engine optimization is much cheaper!<br /><br />But many small businesses and web site owners make the mistake of just concentrating on traffic and search engine optimization. They get the traffic, but it doesn’t convert into buyers. What good is a ton of traffic coming to your site, if it doesn’t improve your website results? <br /><br />You’ve ultimately got to look at your bottom line. If you’re spending tons of cash, hours of your time and all your energy on driving traffic to your site with SEO, but not making sure it converts into buying customers, you’re just chasing your tail. <br /><br />Remember, you’re not after “clicks” – you’re after sales!<br /><br />So how can you convert those clicks into sales? How can you get the maximum return on your investment, when it comes to converting those visitors into buyers? While there are many factors that go into Conversion Optimization for your site, here are 3 basics that you MUST ensure happen on your site in order to convert visitors into customers and increase your sales:<br /><br /><strong>1.</strong> First, you need an effective sales message that grabs your surfer by the mouse, turns them upside down, and shakes their credit cards out of their pockets! <br /><br />Your sales message has to grab attention and seductively hypnotize your prospect into buying your product or service. You’ve got less than 7 seconds to grab their attention, so “good enough” will not do. Remember, people don’t like to read ads. In fact, the average Internet surfer does not like to read much at all, so you’ve got to know how to capture their attention. <br /><br />Your marketing message can only grab your surfer’s attention when it addresses their desires directly. For example, if your web site is a self-improvement web site, your marketing message will address things such as how to attain wealth, more health, a better job, weight loss, find a soul mate, or strengthen relationships. <br /><br />You would not use headlines that talk about repairing your car for less than $100 or how to clip discount coupons. The key to converting your visitors is to find out what they want! The easiest way is to simply ask them. Email your list and ask them to email you their most important questions. Tell them to give you feedback and what kinds of changes they’d like to see happen. This will give you a gold mine of information on how to market and craft your sales message on your site in such a way that your target customers will be eager to buy.<br /><br /><strong>2.</strong> Secondly, where your messages are placed on your site is critical. Important messages about what your company does, and the actions you want your customers to take must be strategically positioned on your website to ensure they aren’t overlooked by your customers. Make sure that all critical information appears “above the fold” so your customers don’t have to scroll down the page to figure out what your company does and whether you offer what they need. <br /><br />Something many people forget when they design their site is that different computer monitor resolutions will display your site differently, making it important that you check what your website will look like in all common resolutions. An easy way to do this is to visit <a href="http://anybrowser.com/ScreenSizeTest.html"target="_blank">www.AnyBrowser.com</a> and perform a screen size test. This way you can be certain that your site will look great, regardless of the computer monitor your customer is viewing it on.<br /><br /><strong>3.</strong> Finally, the overall navigation of your site is critical to your conversion success. Is it easy for customers to find what they are looking for? If they have questions, is a phone number provided in an obvious location for them to be able to give you a call? Do you let your customers know the types of payment options you offer, your delivery policies and when they can expect to receive their order? By ensuring that your customers can easily find the information they need to do business with you, you’ll improve your conversion optimization and your sales.<br /><br />Keep in mind that conversion optimization is a process – not an event. Just as you test your direct mail efforts and your PPC campaigns, you will want to test alternate messaging, placement and navigation options to continually try to improve your site’s conversion optimization. To help with this, our friends at Google have developed a free tool called the <a href="http://services.google.com/websiteoptimizer/"target="_blank">Google Website Optimizer</a> where you can identify your “control” page and then test a variety of different headlines, messages and images to determine which performs best.<br /><br />As with any type of testing – I recommend that you test one variable at a time so you can be sure which changes you make have the greatest impact on your conversion rate.<br /><br />Another thing you want to do is to study your competition. Study your competitors that are several steps ahead of you. When you do this, you’ll have an outline of what already works. Don’t copy them, of course – but study their messaging and positioning as well as their site navigation to learn what is working well with the customers you aim to reach. <br /><br />You don’t have to re-invent the wheel. When it comes to having a profitable online business, a combination of search engine optimization and crafting effective marketing messages that convert into buyers is important. Search engine optimization combined with Conversion Optimization is the most powerful duo you have in your Internet Marketing bag of tricks in terms of finding new customers, increasing your sales and improving your Website performance.<br /><br />Want more help and knowledge from Caroline? Get her <a href="http://smallbusinessmavericks.com"target="_blank">FREE E-Book on Small Business Internet Marketing</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-41701761816821246982007-05-31T08:55:00.000-05:002007-05-31T09:01:25.996-05:00NetFlix Style Rental of AV EquipmentBoy I wish this service was available about 5 years ago. Sometimes you need a projector or other device in another city or for an event and you don't want to make a purchase or carry something via travel. <br /><br />Excerpt:<br /><br /><blockquote><a href="http://www.meetingtomorrow.com/"><em>Meeting Tomorrow</a> offers business customers easy access to audio visual equipment. Hotels often charge extortionate prices for renting a projector or display screen, and other meeting venues don't always have the equipment needed for a presentation. On Meeting Tomorrow, you choose the equipment you need, order it online or by phone, and the equipment is delivered to your home, office, hotel or meeting location on time.</em> </blockquote>Learn more about <a href="http://www.meetingtomorrow.com/">NetFlix Style Rental of AV Equipment</a><br /><br />Tip of the Hat to the <a href="http://www.springwise.com">Springwise</a> for this story.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-21191448623153937772007-05-24T07:53:00.000-05:002007-05-24T10:59:05.850-05:00Innovation and Entrepreneurship - Hope for Our FutureMy daughters middle-school 6th grade recently held an innovation fair. Each student had 3 weeks to invent a product. They received guidance on how to find an idea, build a prototype and present to potential investors.<br /><br />At the fair each adult (parent) had $25 to invest $5 each for five different product ideas. In total about 250 students participated.<br /><br />The event was great and there were some great product ideas presented. Many of the kids were dressed in business attire, had a presentation ready and were even able to demonstrate a working prototype.<br /><br />Here are some of the ideas:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKUuQaTolLNvHLnsL-CH-WS9-r9l2lIpfbxliLzySST9sQZiY-1_ImaZjLf23_sVxrCvnrf81K-YP2XWr_wqqEwz6DSKpaFkx4bKXJRmK5jAg3994M51LKtH5GhtxMuXpu1YL2/s1600-h/CEO1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068145014076475250" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKUuQaTolLNvHLnsL-CH-WS9-r9l2lIpfbxliLzySST9sQZiY-1_ImaZjLf23_sVxrCvnrf81K-YP2XWr_wqqEwz6DSKpaFkx4bKXJRmK5jAg3994M51LKtH5GhtxMuXpu1YL2/s200/CEO1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />This is my daughter Liz. She had the idea for an automatic hair detangler brush. She worked hard on the prototype and her presentation and did a great job. She is very competitive and really wanted to win the contest. (That meant many trips for last minute supplies)<br><br><br><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzS4mbSDPGPMLW75FWICIyHIB9v-OsvlzRmVulzlUUcfS2jYS77TVSrl-hfeyKuv061Rs4nQKqZvbi4knNcLAMo-ldjyWdDuu71xBOHb_EsHRhMOHTntm9B3e32ewkR0ksbTP/s1600-h/CEO2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068145434983270274" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzS4mbSDPGPMLW75FWICIyHIB9v-OsvlzRmVulzlUUcfS2jYS77TVSrl-hfeyKuv061Rs4nQKqZvbi4knNcLAMo-ldjyWdDuu71xBOHb_EsHRhMOHTntm9B3e32ewkR0ksbTP/s200/CEO2.JPG" border="0" /></a>Here is another great idea, a lighted toilet seat, great for those trips to the bathroom in the night when you don't want to turn on the light or to help us guys improve our aim.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuE4Os-vH4TecNVN6VlkGFDtIUnoL8nteoQNjUIU9pdh4qj3kbuuPD-UR8rfxJkObbQq4deQHv0XsV3VILBpn9_JwfEl1Nj9cm2NBJF57URPZGrJqOIfGRzCiC5KsAl3bh7t8v/s1600-h/CEO3.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068146392760977298" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuE4Os-vH4TecNVN6VlkGFDtIUnoL8nteoQNjUIU9pdh4qj3kbuuPD-UR8rfxJkObbQq4deQHv0XsV3VILBpn9_JwfEl1Nj9cm2NBJF57URPZGrJqOIfGRzCiC5KsAl3bh7t8v/s200/CEO3.JPG" border="0" /></a>Here is an idea I would have bought on the spot, a dog brush with a vacuum attachment. I have two dogs and they generate bushels of shedded fur regularly. Some vacuum cleaner company should take this idea and run with it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioH_tlhkbWYSFYLwMKaghgLXWoKxPjycKkjqbQpqOEB8rDoTSgMmFjlZ4cztnWqXLCoXaLYSNQGDbhTrQowXEqOTay8teZiW5MfzArAOK_deN8mVANBzbpq7vK6HoIl3ONOGkM/s1600-h/CEO4.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5068147195919861666" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioH_tlhkbWYSFYLwMKaghgLXWoKxPjycKkjqbQpqOEB8rDoTSgMmFjlZ4cztnWqXLCoXaLYSNQGDbhTrQowXEqOTay8teZiW5MfzArAOK_deN8mVANBzbpq7vK6HoIl3ONOGkM/s200/CEO4.JPG" border="0" /></a>Another great idea, a telephone-smoke detector combination device that in a worse case scenario can be powered by the phone line voltage if necessary. This seems so simple when you think about it but I have never seen such a device.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />There were literally hundreds of similar great and innovative ideas in one middle-school in Ohio. The kids were excited to have a chance to participate. There are many, many bright kids, with great ideas that had a chance to be empowered to create and sell.<br /><br />My congratulations to the kids and Clagget school for conducting such an event.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-16380526490275991192007-05-23T19:21:00.000-05:002007-05-23T19:33:24.823-05:00What is an Entrepreneur?I am involved in a new startup entrepreneurial club in Akron, Ohio, USA (<a href="http://www.akroneclub.com/index.html">www.akroneclub.com</a>) and we are struggling a bit with what the definition of an entrepreneur is.<br /><br />Is it a role, an attitude or a title?<br /><br />Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines it as: "On who assumes the risk and management of a business."<br /><br />That is no help. If I am a functional manager in a business, say a Sales VP, I am surely managing a part of the business and I am taking a risk with my career, my employees and peers. Does that make me an entrepreneur?<br /><br />Maybe it is all of the above, a role, an attitude and a title.<br /><br />Entrepreneur seems to be the hottest buzzword going around, the hero, the savior of economies worldwide. How do we spot one when we see one? How do we spot youngsters and support them in their journey to business success?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-84057792154392326202007-05-21T06:11:00.000-05:002007-05-21T07:16:52.652-05:00Do Me a Favor: Don't Be My CustomerFunny how some prospects think they are doing me a favor by giving me the honor of being one of three required bids.<br /><br />I had a prospect lately who asked me to provide them a bid for some product and services even though they had just renewed with their past 4 year provider, he said they were happy with the support they provided as well.<br /><br />The bid was for some add-on work around the same application area and he needed to get three bids as a corporate requirement before purchasing. He stated over and over again how there was a real opportunity. I didn't believe him.<br /><br />Preparing the bid would have taken about 8 person-hours of time, he would not let us do an accurate functional spec on the new functionality, this was an easy 'Thanks but No Thanks" response.<br /><br />I know the buyer has power in today's market but not the power to waste my time.<br /><br />I do know that he will get his 3 bidders, at least 3 organizations will have 'HOPE' as their strategy. (The secret is we had done several bids for him over the past years)<br /><br />My suggestion in these scenarios is to listen to what your gut is telling you, it is usually accurate. Be authentic, tell the customer, "Thanks Maybe Next Time."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-38165757486631511302007-05-17T06:10:00.000-05:002007-05-17T06:15:41.601-05:00Leadership the Marine Way<a href="http://www.smbtrendwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/walley_adamchik.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 70px;" src="http://www.smbtrendwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/walley_adamchik.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>The Marine's have been developing leaders for centuries and much has been written and chronicled about the process and the successes.<br /><br />But now you can access some of this knowledge via audio podcast as Wally Adamchik shares the essential universal leadership characteristics used by the U.S. Marines that will enable you to become the successful, natural born leader you are capable of becoming.<br /><br />Listen to <a href="http://www.smbtrendwire.com/2007/05/16/incorporating-marine-leadership-skills-into-business/"target="_blank">Leadership the Marine Way</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-76635548282574787232007-05-14T07:35:00.000-05:002007-05-22T13:11:32.701-05:00Are You a CEO Dad?Are you a CEO and a Dad? Need a good laugh occasionally and a reality check, then you need to check out this great site <a href="http://www.ceodad.com/">CEO Dad</a>.<br /><br />Here is a sample:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ceodad.com/strips/strip-0090.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 520px;" src="http://www.ceodad.com/strips/strip-0090.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-62402459726678921182007-05-10T08:05:00.000-05:002007-05-10T08:14:05.027-05:00RSS Reader and More - NetVibesI subscribe to a fairly large number of RSS feeds and have been using IE7 to subscribe and manage them and have grown frustrated with the time it takes to rapidly scan my feeds for pertinent information.<br /><br />Then I found a service called <a href="http://www.netvibes.com/"target="_blank">NetVibes</a>. NetVibes is a web based service that lets you creates pages of feeds that you can look at like a snapshot. You can even create multiple tabs based on topics or other categories.<br /><br />In addition NetVibes has all kinds of little widgets you can put on a page like weather, calendar, to do lists and more. Another cool thing NetVibes provides is the ability to drag around your various feeds and widgets to the location or even the tab you want them in.<br /><br />This has sped up my information scanning and targeting tremendously. Another site that offers a similar service is called <a href="http://www.pageflakes.com/"target="_blank">Pageflakes</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-34916164294451855882007-05-08T10:55:00.000-05:002007-05-08T11:00:58.475-05:00Rallying the Troops - Will a Campaign Help?I am working with a company that is wants to grow from $3M to $10M over the next 5 years, the company has been flat for several years and has many long term employees.<br /><br />I have suggested that one things we should implement is a branded internal campaign about the growth goal called <em>10X5 We Believe</em> and use it for physical reminders of the journey we are on and how each employee is called upon to contribute to the journey to the goal.<br /><br />I have been employed where such campaigns have existed to help fuel growth and they always seemed to work. Top management supported them and with repetition the culture embraced them as well and it did provide fuel to help growth.<br /><br />If you experience with such culturally related internal branding campaigns leave a comment, I would appreciate it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-90115316720803557382007-05-04T11:08:00.000-05:002007-05-04T11:20:11.837-05:00Incredible Story of a Successful Entrepreneur<a href="http://www.smbtrendwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/taranelson.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100<br />px;" src="http://www.smbtrendwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/taranelson.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Overcoming incredible odds, Tara Nelson got her degree including a masters of psychology. She was almost out of money but still she perservered and triumphed in the expensive real estate market and successfully purchased her first home. <br /><br />Today, Tara is a successful attorney, real estate broker, and business owner. What an <a href="http://www.smbtrendwire.com/2007/05/03/how-to-be-a-successful-mompreneur/">Incredible Story of a Successful Entrepreneur</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-58021496167915463222007-05-01T18:36:00.000-05:002007-05-01T18:40:00.505-05:00Selling to the Government, Public SectorThis is a shout out for help. <br /><br />I am looking for information, (books, consultants, classes, etc.) on how to sell and market to various U.S.Governmental entities, such as States, Counties, Cities and Schools. (Not Federal)<br /><br />If you know of any such resources please leave me a comment or click on the upper left and send me an email, I would appreciate it.<br /><br />Thanks.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-89549619352554016312007-04-27T06:10:00.000-05:002007-04-27T06:17:26.909-05:00Five Insurance Tips to Help Small Business OwnersAre you one of the only 1 in 4 small-business owners that has a sufficient succession and continuation plan in place. <br /><br />If you don't have a good plan, you are putting at risk the financial futures of your partners, your employees and your family. <br /><br />The <a href="http://www.life-line.org/smallbusiness "target="_blank">LIFE Foundation</a> has put together this terrific article on <a href="http://www.life-line.org/build/press_032107/index.php?pt=ps032107&m=press&ps=ps"target="_blank">Five Insurance Tips for Small Business Owners</a> that you need to read today.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-8247805344988945242007-04-24T07:39:00.000-05:002007-04-24T08:04:24.085-05:00Digital Native or Digital Immigrant - Which are You?<a href="http://www.museumwaalsdorp.nl/computer/images/spdp1134.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px;" src="http://www.museumwaalsdorp.nl/computer/images/spdp1134.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>I heard a presentation at a tech vendor conference recently and the presenter used the terms Digital Native and Digital Immigrant. He used the terms in a discussion about how to prepare for the upcoming workforce. <br /><br />A Digital Immigrant describes those of us to whom technology is not easy or native or intuitive, we have to work at it. I know I have been in the IT technology industry for 30+ years and am still an immigrant, Digital is still a second language to me. (<em>Note: The computer in the picture is one of the first ones I worked with</em>)<br /><br />A Digitial native on the other hand has all things Digital as their first language, everything digital seems natural and easy for them.<br /><br />Here are some questions to help you discover your status:<br /><br />You are a Digital native if you:<br /><br />- Never manually changed the channel on a TV<br />- You have a wireless network at home<br />- You have owned multiple cellphones, just in the last 2 years<br />- You can easily do a program search on a TIVO or DVR<br />- You can IM on a phone at over 30 words a minute<br />- You own and operate a blog, podcast and a social network page (myspace, etc.)<br />- You have a VOIP phone and conference call regularly on SKYPE<br />- You know what 'Ruby on Rails' is<br />- You know what a MMOG is and participate regularly<br />- You have e-friends around the world <br /><br />Ok, that is enough. Anyway do you think these Digital natives are going to want to work in a paper driven, process intensive, slow to move and change business? I don't think so. <br /><br />They are smart, talented and speak fluent Digital, how will YOU put them to work in your business?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-79176885848020783182007-04-18T11:09:00.000-05:002007-04-18T11:18:57.808-05:00Tradeshow VulturesI am attending the <a href="http://www.aiimexpo.com/aiimexpo2007/v42/index.cvn"target="_blank">AIIM/OnDemand</a> tradeshow in Boston this week. I haven't been to a monster tradeshow in a few years and have forgotten the expense that many companies invest in these tradeshows.<br /><br />I am actually saddened by the little guys trying to compete against these large organizations and why a small business even invests in such an exercise. It is so obvious that they are out of their league. (Don't confuse tradeshow perception with value prop)<br /><br />My observation is that most of the small guys get walked on by, by the participants.<br /><br />Even worse, in my opinion are the large company displays, crowded with like branded golf shirt wearing sales vultures who are looking for something to kill, I mean someone to sell. I avoid those vendors like the plague, regardless of the product.<br /><br />I find the small, professional presented vendor a joy to talk with, open about their strengths and weaknesses and willing to have a good, quick business discussion.<br /><br />I would suggest if tradeshows are in your marketing strategy that you size up the other vendors and evaluate your positioning versus them as an element of your investment decision.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-62849054448206226272007-04-11T08:20:00.000-05:002007-04-11T08:28:22.752-05:00Top Ten PodcastsOver at my brother site <a href="http://www.smbtrendwire.com"target="_blank">Small Business Trends Radio</a> we just put up our first quarter <a href="http://www.smbtrendwire.com/2007/04/06/small-business-podcasts/"target="_blank">Top Ten Most Popular Podcasts</a>.<br /><br />In March we served up over 40 Gigabytes of Small Business audio content, available at no cost to you the listener.<br /><br />We now have over 85 available shows for our listeners to take advantage of.<br /><br />I like to think we are not only Podcast pioneers (started Nov 2004) but emerging Podcast legends. You will not find many other sites with so much Small Business focused content.<br /><br />Thanks for reading my commercial but you should check out <a href="http://www.smbtrendwire.com"target="_blank">Small Business Trends Radio</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-11110780511608084872007-04-04T21:48:00.000-05:002007-04-04T21:55:03.896-05:00How to Market to Bloggers - EffectivelyTo all of you who take advantage of my openly available email to contact me I thank you!<br /><br />Please read the article linked to below on how to approach me regarding your potential wish for visibility on this blog. I would love to give you visibility but if you want FREE publicity you need to do the work.<br /><br />I would be glad to craft a post and a strategy but I would like to be paid for that work.<br /><br />So please approach me, I love helping, but let's be effective with each other.<br /><br />From <a href="http://www.raintoday.com/pages/2313_the_must_know_dos_don_ts_of_marketing_to_bloggers.cfm?broadcastID=608&linkID=11387&ID=56643"target="_blank">RainToday.com</a><br /><br /><em>Marketing to bloggers can do wonders for your search engine rankings and PR efforts. Inbound links from blogs improves your Google ranking, which increases traffic from search engines. Exposure from bloggers can land a company's website on a social bookmarking site like Digg or Del.icio.us, driving thousands of new visitors to the site. A newsletter, white paper, or book review by an influential blogger could generate new leads for your services.<br /><br />Importantly, bloggers are a more fickle bunch than most traditional media people. Marketing to them appropriately can yield great results; however, approaching them the wrong way can backfire.</em>Read more <a href="http://www.raintoday.com/pages/2313_the_must_know_dos_don_ts_of_marketing_to_bloggers.cfm?broadcastID=608&linkID=11387&ID=56643"target="_blank"><br /><br />How to Market to Bloggers - Effectively</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-45888589980454166192007-04-02T18:56:00.000-05:002007-04-02T19:02:29.659-05:00Recharge: Take a Nap<a href="http://www.metronaps.com/imagery/4_stages.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.metronaps.com/imagery/4_stages.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Do you ever feel drowsy in the middle of the day? Need a power nap? Want to stay on the edge of enlightened employers!<br /><br />Meet the latest in napping, the <a href="http://metronap.com"target="_blank">Metronap</a>. Improve your productivity, attract and retain your best employees and boost morale.<br /><br />Is this a great idea or what? <a href="http://metronap.com"target="_blank">Recharge: Take a Nap</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-16645118377126503852007-03-28T18:25:00.000-05:002007-03-28T18:35:12.240-05:00Raising the Expectations of Your LeadersThe leader of a small business decides that the time is right to grow and grow aggressively. The problem is the business has been flat for a number of years and many of the management team are long term employees who sort of seem comfortable with the pace at which the business is operating and not highly motivated to self-raise their expectation and performance.<br /><br />What is the leader to do? <br /><br />My observation is this can be a serious problem if a growth strategy is defined but nobody is ready to step up, so to speak.<br /><br />My gut tells me that the thing the leader needs to do is explain why they personally want to grow now and what is in it for them individually. Then they must help the other members of the management team identify what their personal return would be if such growth happens.<br /><br />Once that return is identified and bought into it is time to define what individual behaviors and management improvements will be required of each individual. <br /><br />If someone can't see the benefits of the vision personally and/or cannot personally commit to managerial self-improvement then they need to find a new bus, using the Good to Great book phrase.<br /><br />Love to hear your thoughts?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-85378504660570803062007-03-26T06:13:00.000-05:002007-03-26T06:19:34.403-05:00The Web at Your FingertipsI love finding new online tools that help me better find and review information. I have tried almost every RSS reader there is and have never been quite satisfied with any of them.<br /><br />I am trying a new RSS reader, widget thingy called <a href="http://pageflake.com"target="_blank">Pageflake.com</a>. It lets me add little widgets for various functions like maps, games, calendar, lists and most importantly RSS feeds. You can create different pages for different things, maybe a page on Small Business feeds another on Digital media and so on.<br /><br />You can even setup a widget to pull in your email. Get the <a href="http://pageflake.com"target="_blank">Web at Your Fingertips</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-2513769637548942622007-03-22T19:57:00.000-05:002007-03-22T20:00:26.431-05:00We All Have the Same Amount - Time, How Do You Invest Yours?<embed src='http://admin.brightcove.com/destination/player/player.swf' bgcolor='#FFFFFF' flashVars='allowFullScreen=true&initVideoId=686980887&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://services.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&autoStart=false' base='http://admin.brightcove.com' name='bcPlayer' width='386' height='312' allowFullScreen='true' allowScriptAccess='always' seamlesstabbing='false' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' swLiveConnect='true' pluginspage='http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash'></embed>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-83984464192846103262007-03-20T19:47:00.000-05:002007-03-20T19:57:10.643-05:00Environmental Scanning - Shift HappensOne thing an entreprenuer must do is constantly scan the environment looking for threats to our existing businesses and scoping out new opportunities to grow our businesses.<br /><br />Through one of my many RSS feed subscriptions (A great way to scan a volume of information) I came across this video slide show called 'Shift Happens' which does a great job at putting population and global cultural changes in perspective.<br /><br />There are 2 reactions you might have to this, make that 3 reactions. You might not care, you might be afraid or you might be excited. Let me know your thoughts.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://www.glumbert.com/media/shift"target="_blank">Environmental Scanning - Shift Happens</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-9444426206545171092007-03-17T12:36:00.000-05:002007-03-17T12:47:51.529-05:00Snack Attack - Snack Culture - Media and Business<a href="http://www.wired.com"target="_blank">Wired Magazine</a> has a great section in this months issue about our Snack Culture and its application to how we consume media.<br /><br />You know video snippets, audio clips, ringtones, mini-games, blogs and more are coming in smaller chunks, like snacks.<br /><br />It got me to thinking about how a small business needs to have this cultural awareness in order to leverage it for progress in our own businesses.<br /><br />I guess the first step is awareness, so read the article. Second would be insuring that, if applicable, your marketing messages are packaged in a way that your audience wants them and bite size may be the way.<br /><br />That may be one reason blogs are popular in business right now, bite size value and exposure to your prospects. Maybe your print collateral needs to adapt to this new bite sized world.<br /><br />Maybe the heyday of 'white papers' and 'case studies' is past or at least they might need to be broken into smaller bites. <br /><br />Obviously we are all fighting for attention in an attention span challenged world. Smaller just be better at cracking the 'see me' code.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-30580881374818019852007-03-14T18:41:00.000-05:002007-03-14T18:51:29.116-05:00Customer Service Recovery - Done RightSometimes the chance to impress our customers is done via effective recovery from a problem.<br /><br />This week I had the opportunity to fly into the Phoenix airport and I was renting a car for my visit. For those of you not aware this is the really busy season at the Phoenix airport, college spring breakers and baseball spring training visitors cause some real crowding at the airport.<br /><br />Anyway, I get through the rental counter and head down to get the car, there are 20-30 people standing there waiting to get a car, it turns out that the returned cars weren't coming in as fast as the new renters were arriving, a tough problem to manage.<br /><br />Luckily the supervisor downstairs did several things right, every five minutes he explained the problem to the assembled crowd, he apologized for the situation and explained what they were doing to get us our cars. Oh, I forgot, they also provided us all with free bottled water while we waited.<br /><br />Once my name was called I then discovered they were offering all of us upgrades at no cost to a higher level car. This was great handling of a frustrating situation. Communicate, apologize, state your actions and compensate for the incovenience, all done sincerely. <br /><br />My kudo's go out to Enterprise Rental Car in Phoenix. Does your business maximum your service recovery opportunities?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7002766.post-2132844828377326052007-03-11T18:40:00.000-05:002007-03-11T18:50:28.226-05:002% of HumanityI once had the responsibility to be the Customer Service responder for all calls to the CEO of a pretty big company, my job was to try and resolve the situation and make the customer happy. <br /><br />The one thing I learned was that there is just no pleasing some people, I would even send them cash of more value than the product and their time was worth. Still they always found something new to complain about.<br /><br />The CEO said something once and I have never forgotten it, "<em>There is about 2% of humanity you never want to do business with, unfortunately you don't know who they are until you ARE doing business with them</em>."<br /><br />This article from Fortune Small Business brought these thoughts to my mind. In fact this topic would be a good one for a blog: <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/06/magazines/fsb/employees_IDtheft.fsb/index.htm?postversion=2007030809"target="_blank">Employees from Hell</a><br /><br />Here is a taste of the article:<br /><br /><blockquote>About a month into her new job, Normal started missing work. She seemed to have several sick relatives. Rule felt particularly sorry for her new employee when Normal said she had to take a long leave for a family funeral over the winter holidays.<br /><br />Mysterious packages started arriving at the office, addressed to unknown recipients. That always seemed to happen on days that Normal was out, and Rule had them sent back. "At first, nobody made any connections," Rule says.</blockquote>Read more about <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/06/magazines/fsb/employees_IDtheft.fsb/index.htm?postversion=2007030809"target="_blank">Employees from Hell</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4