Marketing And Sales Need To Get Along

There is a war going on within organizations: Marketing and Sales are at odds and fighting against one another. Marketing complains that Sales never follows up on all those leads they send. Sales grumbles that Marketing doesn’t bring them any qualified leads. It’s a battle that neither side can win. And the company as a whole loses unless the two sides wave the white flag and agree to work together as partners, rather than against each other as adversaries. The two sides should join together to fight the war against competitors who are conquering market share.

The truth is both functions are crucial for success. Marketing makes the phone ring and salespeople close deals. It’s a very close association between two functions, so why is there such a disconnect? Part of the problem is that Marketing suffers from a credibility crisis. Marketing is viewed as the people who throw parties and spend budgets, rather than as part of the machine that drives revenue and profits. There are companies where Sales holds weekly revenue calls, and nobody from Marketing is on the call. In order to work with Sales, Marketing must be viewed not as a cost center, but as a strategic asset that drives growth. How can marketers do their part to achieve success and end the war?

Prove Your Worth
CFOs make budgeting decisions and recommendations based on facts and figures. Marketing must present useful data that enables CFOs to understand the value of the Marketing department. Evidence of this issue is seen in a Marketing Sherpa study in which only 17% of B2B marketers queried were sure their CFOs understood the value of lead generation programs. To combat this, provide meaningful success metrics.

Collaborate
Traditionally, the Marketing and Sales departments operate in silos. Each department performs its function without interacting with the other. To end the war, the barriers must be broken down. Sales and Marketing should share common goals. Both should frequently meet to share information. Or, savvy organizations might take it a step further: Have Marketing go on a sales call along with salespeople, or invite salespeople to participate in Marketing meetings, so each side can see, first-person, the challenges the other department is up against.

Instill A Focus On The Customer
Instead of paying attention to divisive internal issues, devote your energy to focusing on the customer. Find reasons to work together to solve customer problems…and to focus on the “right” prospects.

Define Core Messaging
Along these same lines, make sure both departments have a clear understanding of the company’s competitive advantage and key sales differentiators. If Marketing is promoting a product based on price advantage, and Sales is touting customer service (but neither mentions the other) they present mixed messages to the marketplace. Agree on a value proposition, and stick to it. That means having coherent messaging coming from all parts of the organization. Make sure all ads, marketing materials and sales presentations communicate that value proposition to prospects.

Prove Them Wrong
When all else fails, prove them wrong. Make sure you’re generating not just large numbers of leads, but qualified prospects. Remember, in the BtoB world, quality is more important than quantity. You might have a big budget, but if you don’t use it effectively to generate quality leads, why bother?

Don’t Overlook The “No-brainers”
Too often, Marketing’s attempt to “prove them wrong” involves complex strategies and unconventional marketing tactics. But don’t overlook the obvious. One of the most effective forms of online advertising is an industry directory. It’s a small investment – often just a few hundred dollars for an entire year of advertising. And it produces quality prospects. Your ad is hitting prospects at the exact moment that they are actively searching for your company’s product or service. What better way to drive qualified leads than when you already know they’re looking for exactly what you provide?

Marketers who put these tips into action will be closer to ending the war: to being seen as an equal partner with Sales in the effort to deliver revenue for their organization. Marketing programs will be more successful, sales will increase, morale will improve, and customer satisfaction will go up. Peace, at last.

Source: Media Brains 2008 issue.

Quotable Quote – Herbert Simon

What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of the recipients. Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.
–Herbert Simon (Recipient of Nobel Memorial Prize)

Simplicity Quotable Quote – Bruce Lee

One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity.
–Bruce Lee

Have You Conversed With Your Readers Lately?

By Valerie Kendrick

Do you talk to your reader in your sales letters? Are you using language that is too formal or stuffy? Worse yet, are you writing in a style that is too informal?

Formal Language
I talk to so many people that are confused about what is business appropriate in their written correspondence. Many are convinced that the company expects them to use the old formal language.

Let’s look at an example.

Pursuant to your inquiry of March 17, 2008, I am enclosing some literature regarding our XYZ products. Our organization is dedicated to providing the utmost quality and cost effectiveness. We are confident our products will meet and exceed your standards of excellence.

This is too formal and most likely will bore your reader. You should ask yourself if this is how you would speak to the customer in a face-to-face conversation.

Informal Language
Now let’s consider the opposite approach. We treat our customers as if they were one of our closest friends. We use slang, make up adjectives, and forget we have proper grammar and sentence structure to consider. We forget that email, when used for business correspondence must remain business appropriate.

Take another look at the above excerpt now written in a very informal style.

Hey, thanks for calling. I put some really cool stuff about our XYZ products in the package. Our company thinks quality is really important and our pricing is uber-low. You’ll be totally stoked by our super products.

This is too informal. It sounds like we are talking to a friend at a college party.

Business Appropriate
Let’s make our excerpt more conversational, while maintaining the appropriateness.

Thank you for your call. I have sent you some information about our XYZ products. You might have heard that our company values quality. We would like to show you how we can help you be most cost effective. Let’s talk some more about how we can help you and answer your questions. We want to be sure you feel good about your decision to buy our products.

Does the above example sound too stuffy? Is it too informal? Does it sound conversational and still maintain a business-like tone?

Try reading your sales and business letters out-loud before you send them. Make sure they are written in a conversational style that maintains a business tone. Give your customers the respect they deserve by communicating in a clear and concise manner. Choose strong, direct words to convey your message. Write in a style that encourages your reader to want to talk more with you.

Source: Valerie Kendrick is the President of Kendrick Resources LLC, specializing in communications skills training.

Do You Have A Marketing Mentality?

By David Eissman, founder of Guaranteed Growth Systems

Most small business owners and independent professionals start their business primarily because they have knowledge and skills that are in demand. While they understand intellectually that they have to market and sell, often it does not translate on an emotional level. Many business owners tend to look at marketing as a necessary evil, and in many cases, have negative beliefs toward it. They could not stand to be hounded by those pesky salesman in their previous jobs and do not want to “become on of them.” As a result, the tendency is to focus on the aspects of our business that were the reason we chose to go into business in the first place, the actual application of our knowledge or skills.

What is a marketing mentality and how is it developed? There are three components that all link together:

1) The first component is belief. What are the underlying beliefs that affect our mentality? It encompasses our attitudes, thoughts, fears, expectations, and lack of experience. Our actions are shaped by what we think about, what we assume to be true and where we choose to focus. If the thoughts are negative or avoidance minded then we will see marketing as undesirable and in some cases unethical. It will manifest in self talk such as: I don’t deserve referrals, my marketing won’t work anyway; I will look desperate; if my service or product is good the market will know that; I don’t like networking; etc.

2) The second component is behavior which is generally driven by our beliefs. The decisions we make every day are critical and negative beliefs about marketing affect the decisions that are made. For example, how often do we plan for the week and tell ourselves that on Tuesday we will focus three hours on marketing. Tuesday morning rolls along and we receive a client call or an issue or problem with an employee and then rationalize that the marketing must be put off because these issues must be dealt with immediately. The question is how often this is really true. In my experience working with clients the answer is rarely. Although we know that the marketing is important, we let our negative beliefs affect our behavior. Before we know it the pipeline is dry, and then some type of marketing activity is undertaken in an unplanned haphazard manner.

3) The third component is relationship. In order to have consistent lead generation and sales there must be a relationship cultivated with an adequate amount of prospects. This is the main function of marketing. It is the adage of people to do business with those they know, like and trust. Without a consistent and systematic marketing plan, there will not be a sufficient lead generation process.

The linkage is very powerful. The beliefs affect the behaviors and the behaviors affect the ability to develop the relationships. The connectivity between these elements is extremely leveraged in both a positive and negative direction. When they are aligned, the results are extraordinary, and when they are not, the results can be devastating.

So, if you are in this quandary, what can be done about it? First, sit down and make a list, and inventory what your beliefs are about marketing. Be honest and list as many as you can. Then ask yourself about whether these beliefs are really true, or just simply a personal bias. Second, are you absolutely sure what you believe is true, or is it possible that it is not? Next, evaluate how this belief affects your behavior and what would happen if this belief is changed. Try to reconstruct the thought to a more positive mindset. The next step is to translate those new thoughts into new behaviors. One of the best techniques for doing so is to block out time on your calendar and treat it as if it were an appointment with your best client. You surely would not miss an appointment with your best client to deal with a task that was short of an emergency, would you? After a short time, these new behaviors will become habits and the rewards will follow.

If marketing is a struggle, it is absolutely critical to engage in this marketing mentality process. Many companies with great services and products go out of business because they could not implement a consistent lead generation system. Most often that failure starts with the lack of a marketing mentality. The great news is that the necessary mentality can be developed with effort, focus, and an open mind. You will be amazed by the impact on your business.

Source: Reprinted from John Jantesh’s Small Business Articles Duct Tape Marketing (www.ducttapemarketing.com).

Lessons from Great Achievers

By Dan Coughlin

In the past 14 months I’ve given 70 presentations including keynotes, luncheon speeches, after-dinner speeches and seminars in virtually every market in the U.S. and mainly for corporate groups of CEOs, key executives, and entrepreneurs. But the most memorable group I spoke to was the May 2008 graduating class of J.E.T. (Jobs and Employment Training) at St. Patrick’s Center on May 30th in my hometown of St. Louis

St. Patrick’s Center does noble work in helping homeless people find hope and generate permanent, positive changes in their lives. However, the thing I like the best about St. Patrick’s Center is they are very practical. They don’t just talk about helping people create permanent, positive changes in their lives; they dive in and get things done. They help people find a place to stay and they provide them with training on interviewing and job skills necessary to re-enter the workforce. One of their programs is called J.E.T., which is a twelve-week program on a variety of computer skills that will help the graduate increase their chances of gaining meaningful work.

Overcoming Life’s Greatest Obstacles
There were nine people in the graduating class at J.E.T. ranging in age from approximately 25 to 45. I met each of them briefly before my speech and got to know their names. I won’t list them here, but I’ll also never forget them. I could see the excitement over their accomplishments in their eyes. I felt the passion in their dreams. I had to do everything I could to keep myself from crying in front of the audience, which included their family members and friends. It could have been the graduation ceremonies at Harvard because that’s how excited each of these individuals was that day.

To me, these nine individuals represent everything that I’ve written about and spoken about over the past 11 years. They had just completed a 12-week course to increase their capacity to gain meaningful work, and they were incredibly proud of what they had learned and accomplished. They were enthusiastic about the future. They were ready to get on with it.

Isn’t that what life is about? Going after dreams and trying to better ourselves so we can make a greater contribution to other people. Jackie Robinson, the baseball player, said something to the effect that the whole purpose of life is to make a difference in the lives of other people. Well, if that’s true and I think it is, then bettering our selves in order to add value to other people is an important part of the process, and that part should be celebrated.

These nine individuals were moving from a life of homelessness and despair to a life of hope and contribution and carving out the careers they wanted for themselves. One lady stopped me after the ceremonies and said, “St. Patrick’s Center gave me my self-esteem back and now I’m excited about the future.” I almost said to her that no one can instill self-esteem into another person. Self-esteem means the value a person sees in himself or herself. Only the individual can strengthen his or her own self-esteem. As Abraham Maslow said many years ago, “True self-esteem rests on a feeling of personal dignity, the feeling that you are in control of your own decisions and your own destiny.” No one can give you a feeling of being in control of your own decisions. Only you can develop the feeling that you are in control of your own decisions.

But I understood what the woman meant. She meant that St. Patrick’s Center provided an environment of encouragement where she could focus on her strengths and the value she can bring to other people. In doing so, this woman took the time to realize everything she had to offer to the world. That is how self-esteem is built.

I met a teacher named John that day who told me about a life course offered at St. Patrick’s Center on realizing that every super successful leader overcame odds to make a difference in the lives of other people. I totally agree. Walt Disney and Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King, Jr. and Oprah Winfrey and Mohandas Gandhi didn’t just wake up one day ready to contribute. They honed their ability to add value until one day they were so good that other people opened their eyes to all the value they had to offer. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked at writing essays and giving sermons long before he started changing the world for the better in 1955.

Graduation Day taught me or re-taught me so many lessons:

o In giving we receive. I was more touched by those 45 minutes with those nine graduates who had transformed despair into direction, homelessness into hopefulness, and frustration into focus than any work project I’ve done in the past ten years.

o We all need to take the time to recall the value we have to offer to other people. It’s wonderful to help other people see their value, but it’s just as important that we take the time to see the value we have to offer to other people. Recall your past success stories where you made a difference in the lives of other people and the strengths and passions you have to offer to other people.

o Lift your head to see the difference you’re making in the world. You can get so busy giving love to other people that you may not see the impact that your love is making in the world.

o Celebrate life’s most important transitions. That ceremony was a moment to savor like a fine meal. Climbing a mountain means resting at the plateaus. Rest, re-energize, let the success soak in, and then plot your next move up Mt. Contribution, the real-life mountain of trying to make a difference in the lives of other people that we are all trying to climb.

o Pause occasionally from helping your work team move forward and trying to move your career forward and look around you for opportunities to give to others who will never be able to repay you, at least not financially. There are so many magnificent organizations within 30 minutes of your home. What non-financial contribution can you make for them? How can you use your strengths and passions to deliver real value to people who simply can’t afford to pay you?

o Achieving a specific, measurable objective at work is important. Achievements are the basis of promotions, raises, and career growth. Hitting a number is about a goal. Living with purpose is about the soul. Ask yourself, “What is my purpose?” Write down your purpose. Then pour your efforts into both your work and your community events to fulfill your purpose.

In watching the tributes to Tim Russert, I was reminded that great business managers still take the time to give back their strengths and their passions to their communities. As many people thanked him for what he did outside of NBC as he did inside Meet the Press.

Dan Coughlin is a business keynote speaker, management consultant, and author of Accelerate: 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Business Momentum.

The HUGE Value Of A Learning Strategy

Maybe it’s because I recently completed an eighty page e-Learning Strategy for a client, but this article by my good friend Kevin Moore succinctly spells out the value of creating a learning strategy. Many companies forgo this exercise because they see it as a waste of time and/or money. My experience has shown this saves money and time in the long run — it also saves a lot of grief and headaches. Check it out.

By Kevin Moore

Recently I’ve had the opportunity to work with some very large organizations (large to me = billion or more in revenue and 10 to 20 thousand people) who are wonderfully talented and really smart but fail to have a strategy in place to help them navigate this learning and performance world. Taking time to develop a strategy is one of the most thoughtful, professional, and organizationally responsible things any leader can do for their organization. Simply put, it allows you to make better decisions and align and link your group’s achievements to the rest of the organization. This makes everything you do within your group more effective and efficient, rather than unorganized and uncoordinated. These are not hard to do….really! However, I will recommend using a consultant organization as they can set up and run meetings, interviews, and group data collection activities across organizations that are sometimes limited by politics and positions from folks who are within the organization. Also, I wouldn’t pay for a lengthy engagement but I would hire a group who has done learning strategy analysis, has a methodology, can show you some past successes, and can get in and get out in a limited amount of time. This article is taken from an opening chapter in an eBook that was published by the eLearning Guild earlier this year. I wrote the opening chapter but you should also take a look at some of the other chapters as they are written by some folks who I consider pretty accomplished and credible. You decide….

You can go download the entire book from our website. Look on the left side menu there is a download button. What I’ve taken from the chapter for this article is some of the background information, intent of the strategy, and what it should encompass.

Learning Strategy
A learning strategy describes the input, output, and measures of the system and should have organizational, departmental, business unit, and individual references. This should be a far reaching document that details how the organization is going to facilitate continuous improvement in its employees. This implies a focus on the development of a learning culture. To achieve this goal, the utility of knowledge must be increased through three key components:

1. Capture/creation of data, information and knowledge assets in support of each individual’s performance functions across the organization. Links to knowledge management and document management practices.
2. Intelligent storage leveraging useful taxonomies, search, and retrieve capability that better manages and improves access to content.
3. Dissemination/access practices, including but not limited to: e-Learning, instructor-led training, documentation, mentoring/coaching, and outside sources.

Read more…

Using Social Networks To Support Learning And Training

My friend and co-worker wrote this great article on the use of Web 2.0 technologies and their support of training and competencies. You really need to read this!

By Rod Ford

In a previous post, I asked the question: How can social network environments be used to support competency models that include attitudes and behaviors?

With the variety of social network environments (SNEs) available in today’s Web 2.0 milieu, the possibilities for leveraging them in the support of competency models and training initiatives may be infinite. In this post, I will focus on two or three of the SNEs and may choose to write about some of the others later. That said, I would encourage you to comment to this post about your ideas for these and other SNEs.

Weblogs and Blogging
Weblogs (blogs) are easy to implement but are challenging to leverage in support of competency models and training initiatives. I say “challenging” because blogging requires an individual or small group of knowledge experts to write content and keep it up to date. I think they are a very valuable tool, but when using them to support training initiatives, it is important to:

* Identify potential authors
* Create a writing schedule
* Remind authors when its time to write
* Link relevant courses to the blog
* Encourage readers to comment
* Assign someone to identify comments that need a response from an expert

Wikis
I’ve personally worked with at least 9 different wiki tools. Some of them I’ve simply written inside of, others I’ve implemented for clients or simply for my own understanding of their usefulness. While these tools are a bit more challenging to implement than a blog, I believe they are enormously important for supporting competency models and training initiatives.

Read more…

4 Communication Styles To Reach Customers

By Valerie Kendrick

How can we use the four communication styles to connect to more potential clients? Why do we need to be aware of these styles when writing our direct mail literature?

If you haven’t asked yourselves these questions before writing your next direct mail piece, you may be missing a lot of opportunities. When we write to an unknown audience we need to make sure we capture the attention of each of the four communication styles.

1. Directors: The first line of your document must attract the “Directors.” It must be direct, to the point, and state clearly the main purpose of the document. You need to answer the question for this reader, “What’s in it for me?” The very last line of the document must tell them how to take action to buy your product because their overriding need is to finish each task.

Example: The new A500 with increased speed and reliability, doubling your productivity, can be ordered directly from our website at www.whateveryourwebsite.com.

2. Socializers: Next we can appeal to the “Socializers.” Their driving need is to be appreciated. You need to explain how your product will get them more attention from those they care about. You need to emphasize the “newness,” creativity, or flexibility of the product.

Example: You’ll be surprised when your friends and family continually ask you to show them the new and exciting ways to use the improved time-saving features of the A500.

3. Thinkers: For our “Thinkers” you need to include a chart or graph that specifically depicts the statistics that prove your product is bigger, faster, more reliable, or more efficient. They love facts and details, and those must be presented in a very eye-catching way. You cannot let the details get lost in the body of your document. Remember to leave a lot of white space around your chart of specifications so that the “Thinkers” are drawn to the information.

Example:
Specifications
Reliability: 9.99998%
Operation Hours: 2000 hrs.
Battery Life: 3 years

4. Relaters: Lastly, you must include our “Relaters.” Their focus is on being liked and belonging to the group. They want harmony and a way for everyone to avoid conflict. You need to make sure they know how your product enables them to share with others. This style really appreciates testimonials because they highly value the opinions of others. They will seek out this information by asking all their friends if they have used your product or know anyone who has used it. Don’t make them search for this information; give them the testimonials and endorsements right near the bottom of your document.

Example: “I am thrilled with the wonderful new features of the A500. It has saved me so much time and energy, and my whole family loves to use it. In fact three of my neighbors have already asked to borrow it.” Susan, Dallas,TX.

We all have a dominant communication style and it governs how we respond to information. So the next time you are putting together your direct mail document, keep the four styles in mind and appeal individually to each one.

Source: Valerie Kendrick is the President of Kendrick Resources LLC, specializing in communications skills training. She has been called the “Grammar Guru” because of her passion to help the business person communicate more effectively.

A Strategic Plan For Data Mining

By Rick Brough

There is great advice out there about the how-to of data mining. But there is precious little about the why-do.

Direct Marketer’s often launch a campaign under tight deadlines and fail to think through how they’ll use customer data to support it or measure the results. In effect, they create more work and risk for themselves.

If only they focused on strategy as much as they do on tactics. All would be well. Where to start?

First, the marketer should streamline the preparatory work for each campaign by building a consistent method for identifying opportunities within the customer base.

This builds efficiencies into the marketing process and helps deliver relevant and consistent customer experience across multiple channels, thereby improving marketing efficiency and effectiveness.

The tools for tactical data mining are widely available and generally reliable, making it easy to apply them to one-off efforts. But there is no software package to guide marketers through the strategic approach; they have to step back and do the thinking themselves or engage a partner who can help guide them through the process.

What follows are the six stages in the hierarchy of data analytics, and the value of each to a well-rounded strategic approach:

Data Access
This is the foundation on which marketers build by collecting all pertinent information about customers, including name, address, demographic data, history of transactions, product and service purchases, and responses to past campaigns. Every business should earmark the appropriate resources to ensure this data is as accurate and up-to-date as possible.

Reporting And Profiling
Key performance indicators are developed and applied to track the performance of customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives over time and across customer segments. Here, marketers can also track client migrations across various segments, compare responders versus non-responders, and gauge campaign response over time.

Current Value
The underlying premise for CRM is that not all customers provide equal value to an organization. Therefore, the first step for any CRM initiative is to measure customers by their value to the organization.

For example, 20% of clients might account for 80% of a company’s business, and would be worth a lot of the marketer’s time and money. Another 30% might be designated as moderately valuable, but having the potential to move up into the top 20%; they’d require a different kind of pitch.

The last 50% could account for just 5% of the company’s business; they are less committed, motivated largely by price, and require still another approach (or, maybe, none at all).

Segmentation
In this stage, marketers identify prospects who share similar characteristics – who, therefore, belong to one of several specific segments.

This provides the opportunity to focus on the highest-value segments and acquire new customers who match the segments identified as most desirable. As well, sales pitches can be custom-tailored to suit each segment using what is known about those segments. Customers can be segmented using many criteria.

But segments should focus on identifying customers with similar product and service needs as implied through neighborhood socio-demographic characteristics, life stage, usage behavior, or needs and attitudes as identified by market research.

Predictive Analytics
Use this to predict each customer’s likelihood to initiate a particular activity in future based on their unique characteristics and past behavior.

The benefits represent a “win-win” for the organization and its customers, with marketing ROI rising, and customers receiving more relevant offers – the principle of “right message to the right customer.” Predictive models are developed to assist marketing at all stages of the customer life-cycle, including acquisition, cross-sell and up-sell, retention, and re-activation.

Potential Value
This is assessed by combining each customer’s current value with their potential to buy more in the future. As with current value, potential value creates an even clearer way to identify the most valuable customers, the ones worth keeping.

It also helps to identify those less valuable customers with potential for entering the most-valuable category, and those low-value clients on whom it may not be necessary to spend as much.

Database Marketing Strategic Framework
Using these six stages, marketers can develop a database-marketing strategic framework that differentiates customers based on the value they currently contribute to an organization, their product and service needs, and their potential future value.

Each segment so identified should be assigned its own distinct marketing objectives. And it is crucial that these distinct objectives are understood across all channels of an organization, including marketing, sales, customer service, and operations, so that all can work in support of them.

Additionally, a strategic approach to database marketing can facilitate consistent communications to the customer across multiple channels, including Print, Web, e-mail, POS and others.

During a campaign, and at the end, it is crucial to have key performance indicators to measure and track results in a segment-specific way. What are the criteria for success?

What will the organization regard as a minimum ROI? These indicators will be invaluable in planning subsequent campaigns, but they have to be developed in advance.

Finally, it is essential to devise ways to capture all of the data, both raw and processed, which went into a campaign and emerged from it. As with the performance indicators, this data is essential for crafting subsequent campaigns; rather than starting from scratch with each campaign.

Source: Multichannel Merchant List and Data Strategies Feb. 25, 2008 newsletter. Rick Brough is director of consulting services for Transcontinental Database Marketing.

Telecommuting: How To Promote It

By Barbara Safani

Telecommuting continues to be a hot topic among job seekers as people strive for more work/life balance and flexible arrangements. But I think there is a misperception about how to secure a telecommuting arrangement. It’s unlikely that you will land a telecommuting job through an online job board (and be wary, because most of these opportunities are scams). Most telecommuting jobs start out as traditional jobs that evolve to a more flexible arrangement through a mutual agreement between the employer and the employee. You must first prove to an employer that you are trustworthy and loyal and that the telecommuting arrangement presents benefits for the company as well as the employee. If you are considering requesting a telecommuting work arrangement, here are some potential employer benefits you can reference during your conversation.

Increase In Work Hours
The telecommuter can continue to work during the time they would normally be commuting. This increase in productivity can translate into company profits like money earned, saved, or also result in more interaction with important clients.

Reduced Infrastructure Costs
Employers can save on their real estate, technology and telecommunication costs by offering telecommuting arrangements.

Decrease In Distractions
Traditional office settings are plagued by time wasting activities and ongoing interruptions. Who hasn’t been in a situation where they were constantly interrupted by people coming into their office to ask questions? And how often have you seen co–workers wasting time gossiping by the coffee station? All these distractions can be eliminated in the telecommuting arrangement.

Increased Morale
Employees that have greater control over how they manage the competing demands in their lives tend to be happier in their work. This positive attitude can contribute to increased productivity and better rapport with colleagues and clients.

Increased Employee Loyalty And Retention
Employees who feel that their employers are supportive of their need for workplace flexibility tend to stay with their companies longer. In the long run this saves employers the enormous costs associated with sourcing and training their replacements.

If you hope to secure a telecommuting arrangement in the near future, start targeting companies that embrace workplace flexibility now. Start off with a traditional in–office role and prove your ability to be productive with limited supervision. Build trusting relationships with colleagues, clients and supervisors. Doing so will help improve your chances of securing a telecommuting arrangement at some point in the future.

Barbara Safani, owner of Career Solvers, has over twelve years of experience in career management, recruiting, executive coaching, and organizational development.

Weird Week In Review - June 6

In case you missed last week, here is your one stop review of all things from WeirdGuy blog. Have fun!

5 Effective (Though Less Obvious) Powers Of A Press Release

Shake Up Your Business - It Can Be A Good Thing!

How To Be A UX Design Team Of One

Ironman Case Mod - Awesome! [PICS]

Related Links
- Weird Week In Review (May 30)
- Weird Week In Review (May 23)
- Weird Week In Review (May 16)

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How To Be A UX Design Team Of One

If you missed it, here is the presentation Leah Buley, from Adaptive Path, did at the IA Summit ‘08. I think you will find it informative and encouraging. Enjoy!

Shake Up Your Business - It Can Be A Good Thing!

I saw this article from Dan and had to share. Simplicity and creativity are often themes you’ll find on WeirdBlog. Enjoy!

By Dan Coughlin

Barb and I have a special marriage bonding ritual. On Sunday nights we put the kids to bed and then we cuddle up and watch Desperate Housewives. No matter what challenges we’re facing nothing compares to the lives on Wisteria Lane. Hey, don’t blame me. Barb was the one who wanted me to watch Teri Hatcher and I just got hooked.

At the end of season four, something very strange happened. The last scene started with three words: Five Years Later. Everything seemed turned upside down. Susan had a new husband, Lynette and Tom’s young children were suddenly teenagers, Bre was a mega–successful party planner, and Eva Longoria inexplicably looked frumpy. We thought maybe it was just an end of the season joke, but we found out the next day that the producer, Marc Cherry, had created these changes with a purpose in mind.

He said he just wanted to start the next season with a clean slate. He found that he was falling into a trap of extending story lines from the first three seasons, and he wanted an opportunity to energize the creativity on the show. So he shook things up and took a chance. The show might bomb, but at least he demonstrated the courage not to settle for the status quo. Instead he reached for something new, within the framework of the show he created.

Apple’s Forays into the Wilderness
Sometimes we forget that Apple was not always Fortune’s most admired company in the world. Back in the late 1990s Apple was doing everything it could to reduce inventory, get focused, and avoid bankruptcy. So they decided to shake things up, with a purpose in mind. They decided to open up Apple retail stores so that customers could see their products up close and get to know them better. They were also able to provide great hands–on training. Gateway Computers had just exited retail stores having lost a ton of money. Critics said that Apple would regret opening up stores. Well, let’s see. They soon generated a billion dollars a year through those stores, and later generated a billion dollars a quarter. Sometimes it’s worth it to shake things up.

New Ideas Don’t Always Work, But They Do Open Up New Possibilities
Thomas Edison was always shaking things up and oftentimes failing spectacularly. Not just in light bulbs, but in concrete and phonographs and telephones and on and on. But even in his failures he found some nuisance that could be used in combination with other ideas. Same could be said for Walt Disney and GE and virtually every successful person and organization. Be willing to mix things up.

To be Purposeful You Have To Have a Purpose
Why does your organization exist? Don’t look at your corporate brochure, just tell me conversationally why your organization exists. What is its purpose? I’ve helped dozens of organizations and groups answer that question for themselves, but I almost never took the time to think about it for my one–person business. Then it dawned on me that no matter how big or small a business is, it has to have a purpose in order to shake things up with a purpose.

On a flight home last week I started doodling around in the back of a book and I landed on my company’s mission and philosophy. Those words seem so fancy for such a small enterprise, but the impact a company has on other people is not based on the number of employees it has. It is based on the value contributed to the customers.

Here’s The Coughlin Company’s Mission & Philosophy:

• Provide practical processes to propel great performances.
• Embrace simplicity and avoid process creep.

Those 13 words summarized my whole approach to creating value for customers. At the end of the day, my work is to give you a process you can consider using to improve your results. Also, as I have written before, I’ve noticed that smart, hard–working people tend to want processes that are really complicated because simple ones seem too easy. Smart, hard–working folks tend to take simple processes that are delivering really good results and make them really complicated in the hopes of achieving amazing results. It doesn’t usually work that way. My philosophy is to encourage people to embrace simple approaches and then work to hone them to an even greater degree of simplicity rather than a greater degree of complexity.

Clarify Your Purpose
In order to shake things up for yourself or your organization, clarify your purpose. Then within that purpose ask yourself, “What can I do or we do to mix up what we’re doing and generate new levels of innovation, creativity and customer value?” Don’t try 20 changes. Just select one or two things you’re going to shake up a bit and see what possibilities those changes create.

Book Recommendations
I read two wonderful books this month: “The Enzo Ferrari Story” by Enzo Ferrari, and “Inside Steve’s Brain” by Leander Kahney. Both of these books talk a great deal about the importance of shaking things up with a purpose in mind at Ferrari and at Apple.

Soak up the ideas, good and bad, from everything you do and see, in and out of the office. Then decide what aligns with your purpose. Determine what’s worth giving a shot. And ensure the process is simple. Sometimes it’s hard to fathom that it can be, just that easy.

Dan Coughlin is a management consultant and author of “Accelerate: 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Business Momentum”. He speaks on entrepreneurial habits, quality, leadership, branding, sales, and innovation

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5 Effective (Though Less Obvious) Powers Of A Press Release

What is the goal of a press release? You’re probably thinking, ‘It’s obvious, isn’t it?’ The hope is that your press release gets picked up by your media of choice and you get free advertising. Marketers dream their press release will wind up as the main headline on the front page. And it’s true: The value of being on the editorial pages of the media is priceless. But what some marketers don’t consider are the hidden advantages, the less obvious but equally powerful benefits of P.R.

1. Improves Internal Communication And Messaging
Communicating effectively to employees is more than good H.R. – it’s essential to retention and relationship building. Employees don’t want to learn about their company’s accomplishments over the news or online. They should hear it first from the source: their employer’s communications department.

Making your press release accessible to employees — via a company newsletter, corporate intranet, or company website – is effective internal communication and plays a valuable role in professional development. Furthermore, when written properly, the press release is chock full of corporate messaging, and serves as a “key message” document, which employees can use when speaking with clients and prospects. It’s a great way to build consistent messaging throughout the organization.

2. Boosts Search Results
The content in press releases is by nature rich with key words, making it high-value content for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Press releases increase the value of your website in the eyes of search engines, as well as encourage other sites to link to yours. This inbound linking is also highly valued by search engines and can lead to much higher organic SEO ranking.

To get even more back-links, submit your press releases to free PR submission websites. A live link from the press release back to the website owner’s site will be posted on most of the syndicated places that the press release shows up. The more channels you reach out to, the better chance you have of getting picked up in the search engines.

The residual online benefit for the press release publisher is the coveted fresh content that is so hard to come by on the Internet today. Your website stays relevant and up-to-date with the latest news.

3. Defines Your Company As A Leader
When journalists use your press release to write about your products, they provide an independent review that creates credibility. When consumers read press releases, it strengthens their perceptions of your brand. Included as part of a company’s integrated marketing program, the press release reinforces branding, boosts loyalty and contributes to sales results.

4. Works In Your Marketing Tool Kit
Get double duty from your press releases, by including them in collateral, or information kits. Too often, salespeople starve for tools that will support and improve their sales efforts. A well-stocked arsenal of sales materials—the marketing toolkit—is crucial to successful sales efforts. When left with prospects, along with case studies, fact sheets and other collateral, the press release is a fundamental tool for arming salespeople with materials they can use to “get in the door,” ensuring the right message is delivered and keeping your name in front of the client long after the initial sales call.

5. Broadens The Net To Prospects
A release can be distributed to a range of publications through paid news services, sent directly from your communications department to targeted members of the media, and can be posted on your company website for potentially thousands of people to view. You broaden the audience who learns about your company – and ensure that your brand is well-known in your industry.

Put together a P.R. plan that includes distributing and posting press releases on a regular basis and you will start reaping hidden benefits of a press release.

–Source: Media Brains May 2008 issue

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- SEO Design Tips - Part 1
- SEO Design Tips - Part 2

Weird Week In Review - May 30

In case you missed last week, here is your one stop review of all things from WeirdGuy blog. Have fun!

Is The Market Ready For Modbook?

Top 10 Excuses To Stay In A Bad Workplace

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Top 10 Excuses To Stay In A Bad Workplace

I just saw this article at The Chief Happiness Officer. After having recently talked with friends that are in bad work environments, I thought this would be appropriate to post. Enjoy!

If you’re unhappy at work, I’m sure that the thought “Man, I really should quit!” crosses your mind occasionally.

So why don’t you?

Even if you long desperately to quit, to get away from your horrible workplace, annoying co-workers or abusive managers, you may hesitate to actually do anything about it, because right on the heels of that impulse come a lot of other thoughts that hold you back from quitting.

Each of these excuses may sound to you like the voice of sanity, offering perfectly good reasons why it is in fact better to stay and endure that bad job just a little longer, but look a little closer, and they don’t really hold up. What they do instead is keep you trapped in a job that is slowly but surely wearing you down.

Here are 10 of the most common bad excuses for staying in a bad job.

#1 “Things might get better”

That jerk manager might be promoted out of there. That annoying co-worker could quit.That mound of overwork could suddenly disappear.

On the other hand, things might also get worse. Or they might not change at all. If you’ve already done your best to improve your job situations and nothing’s happened, just waiting around for things to improve by themselves make little sense.

#2 “My boss is such a jerk but if I quit now, he wins.”

Who cares. This is not about winning or losing, this is your life. Move on, already.

#3 “I’m not a quitter.”

Well guess what these somewhat successful people have in common: Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Tiger Woords, Reese Witherspoon, John McEnroe and John Steinbeck?

More…

SEO Design Tips - Part 2

By Barry Fenning

If your visitors like your Web site, there is a very good likelihood that the search engines will, too. Here are the last 5 tips from Barry Fenning, that focus on how to develop your site with your visitors in mind, and also effectively conduct search engine optimization.

6. Descriptively label your links and images (aka, the “anchor text”)
This technique is both common sense and good practice. Saying “click here” is not enough to help visitors understand what they’re going to find once they click through. Be as descriptive as possible with every text and graphical link on your site. When writing your anchor text and alt attributes, you can almost always describe the page you’re pointing to by using its main keyword phrase. That is an important factor that search engines take into account when it comes to ranking your Web pages.

7. Make sure your site is spider-friendly
Your site may look fantastic. You and your Web designer may be talented graphic designers who can make Flash and JavaScript dazzle your visitors with a show that would put Michael Flatley and his River Dance to shame. However, if your site contains Flash and JavaScript, it’s important to know that search engine spiders have difficulty reading this code (or appreciating the effort you put into the design). The way around this is to provide navigation alternatives such as static links and a site map to allow the spiders crawl deep within your Web site and index the pages within their results. Overuse of Flash, JavaScript, and images can also lead to your Web pages’ being very slow to download. If these file types are used sparingly, your visitors and search engines will appreciate your efforts a lot more.

8. Create fresh content
When you are optimizing your site properly, you will see a trend. If you are doing something that benefits your site’s visitors, then the search engines will reward you for it. Blogs and forums are effective and easy ways of adding new information to your site on a regular basis. However, if your only purpose of setting up a blog or a forum is for better search engine rankings, then there really is no point in doing it. Only add a forum if it contributes something beneficial to your site and if you have the traffic to make it interactive enough for visitors to return to it. And, only add a blog if you have something of interest to say on a regular basis. Once you have your blog and/or forum up and running, you should optimize them with the same professionalism you do with any other page on your site.

9. Do not think that you can trick search engines
As noted before, if you are benefiting your visitors, then the search engines will reward you for it. If you try to trick the search engines by hiding keyword phrases, joining link farms, or any other sneaky practice, your sites will be removed from the search engines. (And you will also have to spend more time cleaning up your site before they will accept you back in.)

10. Offer something unique
If your Web site offers something that is unique and interesting to your target market and it is properly optimized (by applying all of the techniques listed above), you will not only rank well within the major search engines but also get the added benefit of people linking to your site in forums, blogs, and through other sites. That will send your site more visitors and create more inbound links, which will help it rank higher.

Remember, it’s human visitors that you are trying to impress, not search engine robots.

Related Articles
- SEO Design Tips - Part 1

SEO Design Tips - Part 1

By Barry Fenning

If your visitors like your Web site, there is a very good likelihood that the search engines will, too. With this in mind, here are the first 5 tips from Barry Fenning, that focus on how to develop your site with your visitors in mind, and also effectively conduct search engine optimization.

1. Pick appropriate keyword phrases
This is the single most important thing to do when it comes to optimizing your site for search engines. The words and phrases that your potential customers type into the major search engines are the keywords your site should be using within the specific areas of your Web page (see points 3 and 4, below). Useful keyword research tools are available on the Web, including Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery (both offer trial versions).

However, if you want to find out accurate figures of how many people are searching for your targeted keywords per week/month/year, run a Google AdWords and/or Yahoo/Overture campaign and you will get extremely accurate figures of search engine traffic while (hopefully) generating income that will pay for your research.

2. Optimize every page on your site
Optimizing each Web page is overlooked by so many sites. It can be the difference between competing for a highly competitive keyword phrase such as “Irish Hotels” on your home page, and competing for a much less competitive keyword phrase such as “Hotels in County Galway” on another relevant landing page.

3. Optimize your page titles
All of the major search engines have hundreds of different algorithms that compute where your Web page should be listed for different keyword searches. Putting your keywords within the title description tag of your pages is one of the most important SEO techniques and will help your site climb through the rankings. It will also allow your visitors to remember exactly what your page is all about when they save it to their “favorites.”

4. Optimize your page content
It is sometimes very difficult to write content for your Web site. Not only do you need to put the information you want the visitor to see in front of them in an easy-to-read style, you also have to keep in mind the keywords that your page is targeting so that you can rank better within search engines.
One of the best pieces of advice I have come across is to write for your visitors and include the keywords as much as makes sense. Read what you have written out loud to yourself and a few others. If it sounds silly or stilted… lather, rinse, and repeat.

5. Create an inbound linking strategy
Submitting your site to Web site and article directories is a very beneficial way to drive targeted traffic to your site.

Links within these sites bring visitors to your Web site, and search engine “spiders” are easily able find your site and index your pages within their results. If your site doesn’t have a link pointing to it on the World Wide Web, the search engines will never find it and you will never see any traffic from Google or the other big ones.

- As published in Marketingprofessionals.com