Casual Articles - Internet and Businesses Online

Nine Ways to Build Your Business Without Making Cold Calls
Method 1: Client base Saturation - When looking for new business, your current clients are always your BEST prospects! The focus of this approach is developing all client relationships to their maximum potential - helping them in every way possible and, in the process, laying a stronger foundation for their ongoing referrals.Method 2: Refined Referral Building - Stronger client relationships should naturally lead to more and better referrals - but you need to know when and how to ask for them! This method focuses on securing high-level introductions into companies with whom your existing clients have relationships.Method 3: Professional Interpersonal Networking - Every day, human development professionals cross paths with millions of dollars in opportunities, yet allow the vast majority of those opportunities to pass them by. Why? They don

day design review session. The result was the development of an entirely new building product that had greater global reach and led to the development of entirely new channels of distribution.

• Start building an Expert Blog. That’s what Toyota did with their blog on the hybrid engines, assigning a development engineer to monitor the blog for technical support. Customers complained about the first hybrid engines catching fire due to a fuel line accidentally designed too close to the engine housing, and the design engineer owned up to the flaw, explained the situation online, even explained how dealers were being given instructions for fixing the situation, and the issue was resolved. Based on this Toyota has a full time blogger just for hybrids today. There are other companies following this direction as well. Expert blogs are powerful because they impart advice quickly and honestly – definitely a great aspect of building an online brand.

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Listen! How to Sell More by Listening More!
In my opinion, one of the biggest skills of being able to sell well is developing your listening skills. Most sales companies and sales people talk about being consultative but they don't really know what consulting is! No-one can consult if they cannot listen first. You cannot sit around a table with your fellow sales people and decide what consulting services you are going to offer to a client - it doesn't work like that. Yes, you need a clear picture of what your services are but consulting services require you to listen to the client.Now I guess most people think they can listen well, don't you! Wrong! 90% of people have appalling listening skills and even those who know how to listen don't a lot of the time. Think about it! When you are in a conversation and someone is saying something to be able to understand it you are constantly translating the

The collection of technologies that enable customers to be participants in and not just the passive recipients of communication is what many are calling Web 2.0. While there as just as many definitions of Web 2.0 as there are people writing about it, I’d say its safe ground to include the following as blogs, peer-to-peer networking for both files and music, RSS (Real Simple Syndication), social media, social networking sites including LinkedIn, wikis, and the combining of web applications, called mash-ups, which I first learned of from reading Forrester Vice President and Principal Analyst Charlene Li’s blog. Taken together, those are the building blocks of Web 2.0. Some claim tagging is part of Web 2.0; others don’t, but decide for yourself by checking out del.icio.us and Digg to see what they are about.

In fact Web 2.0 is transforming the Internet into an operating platform unto itself, and from that vantage point the revolutionary product ideas that Google must be exploring are, I am sure, fascinating. One can only imagine what Google must be thinking regarding Web 2.0-based customer centric initiatives based on their advances in several key technology areas, all visible to the outside world at Google Labs’ papers section, which is worth a look from time to time just to see what’s going on in their R&D departments.

Salesforce.com + Google = The Beginnings of Customer-Driven Web 2.0?

Tim Reilly’s article on What is Web 2.0? from 2005 got me to thinking about how Web 2.0 has progressed in the last year and a half since he wrote this piece, and reflecting on the Salesforce.com integration to Google AdWords, which sounds much like what Mr. O’Reilly is speaking of in terms of Web 2.0. For nearly every enterprise software company under $30M in Sales, AdWords is the biggest lead generation spend category in the yearly budgets. Integrating Salesforce.com and AdWords is another data point towards the rewriting of the CRM landscape towards being every more Web 2.0-centric.

Creating a Customer Listening System

Given many tools that comprise Web 2.0, many B2C companies are experimenting with each and working to synchronize content across each through a content management system. According to work being completed at several large consumer goods products (CPG) manufacturers this is working out very well, and is in fact leading to potential new product innovations. These CPG manufacturers rely on blogs, wikis, and RSS feeds to create a more collaborative level of communication with consumers. In addition the CPG manufacturers began tracking and monitoring activity across all Yahoo newsgroups for example. One of th CPG manufacturers in the set opted to outsource their customer listening system efforts to Cymfony, which is a company worth monitoring as their technologies and direction are fascinating in this area of listening to customers via Web 2.0 consumer-generated media.

While many smaller companies want to create an active customer listening system and aren’t ready to partner with Cymfony or a comparable vendor in this area, there are steps that can be taken. Here are some recommendations to get started on your own Customer Listening System:

• Online communities for building product development panels. One globally known manufacturer of building products began creating an online community using first interest groups and then created an online panel of over 2,000 design, development, production, purchasing, procurement, sales and service professionals to assist in their new product development and introduction process (NPDI). From this group of 2,000 the manufacturer allowed much discussion in the community and 20 emerged as the leaders – the cognoscenti if you will – of the group. This group was placed into a second online community and interacted with design engineers from the manufacturer and hosted at a two day design review session. The result was the development of an entirely new building product that had greater global reach and led to the development of entirely new channels of distribution.

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Anti Rust - Corrosion - Corrosion Protection
Rust is permeable to air and water which allows for the corrosion of the metal even after a rust surface layer has formed. Aluminium corrosion is not the same as the corrosion of steel or iron. In aluminium corrosion, aluminium oxide is formed on the aluminium surface which forms a protective, corrosion resistant coating. This process is known as passivation.More modern coatings that is used for anti rust purposes will add aluminium to the coating as zinc-alume, aluminium will migrate to cover scratches and which in turn provides protection for longer.There are several other methods available to anti corrosion purposes and prevent the formation of rust, colloquially termed rust proofing or anti rust.* Cathodic protection is one method in which the iron is made as a cathode in a battery formed whenever water contacts the i

must be exploring are, I am sure, fascinating. One can only imagine what Google must be thinking regarding Web 2.0-based customer centric initiatives based on their advances in several key technology areas, all visible to the outside world at Google Labs’ papers section, which is worth a look from time to time just to see what’s going on in their R&D departments.

Salesforce.com + Google = The Beginnings of Customer-Driven Web 2.0?

Creating a Customer Listening System

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Employee Benefits
Meant to increase the economic security of employees, employee benefits are non-wage compensations in addition to normal wages or salaries. Employee benefits could be in the form of health and dental plans; retirement benefit plans; group-term life and long-term-care insurance plans, legal assistance plans, adoption assistance, relocation assistance, child care benefits and miscellaneous employee discounts. The miscellaneous discounts may cover movies and theme park tickets, hotels and resorts, etc.Some of these benefits, such as accident and health plans and group-term life insurance, may be excluded from the employee's gross income and therefore exempt from federal income tax. Benefits provided by employers are normally tax-deductible to the employer and non-taxable to the employee. Among exceptions to this general rule are executive benefits like go

the CRM landscape towards being every more Web 2.0-centric.

Creating a Customer Listening System

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Switch on Your Employees - Say an Unexpected 'Thank You'
Unexpected recognition for a job well done is very, very validating for your people.Whilst you are busy, you are also developing habits that, well, just creep up on you.This means that you do things; behave in a certain way - and now is the time to redress that.If you find there are some of your people you have instant, deep rapport with, it's just human nature to hang out with them more. Respect them and treat them well.Yet you could be missing a trick. And a trick that takes but a little focus to make the most of,This is about specifically targetting those who you don't have an instant relationship with.Make time for those you avoid and engage both in conversation as well as 'catching them doing something right' and thanking them.Spending time with these folks might, to start at le

d media.

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The Power of Focus In Your Home-Based Business
The recent media buzz about 'The Secret' has entrepreneurs asking, "How can I put the Law of Attraction principle to work for me in my business?" It's all about the power of focus. As home-based business owners, network marketers, or coaches, you are often reminded of the importance of goal setting. You already know that goals should be SMART - specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. So, how does all of that detail relate to using the law of attraction to manifest massive results in your business, beyond what your efforts have created thus far?The good news is, if you are clear about your business goals, your task is half completed. To really put the power of focus to work for you, you will need to begin asking yourself some probing, insightful and imaginative questions:Who will I BE when I achieve this goal?What will I H

day design review session. The result was the development of an entirely new building product that had greater global reach and led to the development of entirely new channels of distribution.

• Experts tackling disgruntled customers’ problems need to be fast and furious. Companies who have these expert blogs are learning that when a disgruntled customer gets online and posts their problems in getting service, that speed and accuracy of response are everything. Having a one-on-one response within 24 hours that moves closer to as resolution is critical; in fact doing whatever it takes to solve the problem and deliver exceptional customer service is what is needed in this instance. You want to start creating a legendary level of service here; earn a reputation for responsiveness and that will go a long way. Whatever happens don’t institutionalize the response with canned e-mails.

• Giving Your Customers A Chance to get their Groove on with YouTube What’s turning into one of the hottest Web 2.0 trends this year is the sponsoring of commercial contests where customers have the opportunity to get their groove on with YouTube. It’s been fascinating to watch the uptake of this trend, and the blog Church of the Customer has a good entry on this subject. Of all the ones viewed the TurboTax one is one of the most entertaining and the Southwest Airlines ones are hilarious as well. In a sense, these videos from customers reflect back the branding values projected by your company. Thought for the day: what kind of YouTube videos would your customers create if you sponsored a contest? This is an interesting question and one work pondering – even for a laugh during the day.

In closing, wouldn’t it be great if Google bought LinkedIn, and instead of people there were entire company groupings up there? Complete with YouTube videos, both from the company and from customers online? In the new Uber-LinkedIn you could get comprehensive view of any company from a customers’ perspective complete with videos and a real sense of who they were. This would be sales force automation on steroids, and just one of the many implications of how Customer-Driven Web 2.0 will change how companies present themselves to customers forever.

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Did you know that 7 out of 10 Virginia businesses that spend $1,500 or more for electricity are being overcharged? Ignoring these 5 myths about our nation's power companies can cost you thousands annually.

Undoubtedly, you've heard the truism that there’s no such thing as bad publicity. The tabloids might wrongly accuse you of committing a heinous crime, but if they spell the name of your web site properly, eliciting enough clicks, you’ll come out ok. And there seem to be some shining examples of this philosophy. So, what am I talking about when I saw there IS such a thing as bad publicity? I’m speaking of PUBLICITY THAT ISN’T PUBLICIZED, like most of the articles that you read at various Ezine sites, says Dr. Gary S. Goodman, best-selling author of 12 books, over 600 articles, and top keynote speaker and seminar producer.

Small businesses need to continually be networking in the community to increase their chances for success. It is not enough for a small businessperson to simply advertise in the newspaper, send out direct mail, have ads on the local cable TV station and the radio and expect that to be enough. Advertising and marketing is a large expense and small businesses need to watch their outflow. Networking in any type of small business will increase sales and help with the word-of-mouth advertising.

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