Monday, February 28, 2011

Charles Darwin

I am making my way through the second edition of Charles Darwin’s “The Descent of Man”. A quick search of descriptions in online book stores leads me to believe that mine is an 1874 printing. The book is about 127 years old.

I am also engaged in a spirited discussion of postal mail vs. email in marketing campaigns (Given the nature of my market and business I employ postal, email, phone and face-to-face).

I am struck by the number of personal and technical references given by Darwin, especially the personal references.

Visit www.ChrisGreaves.com for this image! Darwin_Scan10006 (Copy).JPG

In the image above I have circled in red Darwin’s references to humans or human works; 8 references on two pages of about 700 pages in this copy.

Two of the eight references are to books, so imagine Darwin, in his study, flipping through various books from his library to obtain the title, edition, page number and quotation.

Six of the eight references are to his correspondents, and Darwin had many correspondents.

Charles Darwin was a notorious letter-writer and receiver.

6 quotes in 2 pages out of 700 yields as a first approximation 2,100 personal quotations.

Let’s assume that he quotes each correspondent 10 times in this work, that leaves us with 210 people with whom he corresponded, and assume that on average 3 letters passed each way between them, that means that Charles Darwin read 630 letters and wrote 630 letters.

Of course, some of the correspondence contained matters that were used in other books, but none the less, consider this:

Darwin was an experimenter. He spent time outside with a notebook and pencil, a lamp at night time, in his fields, observing, measuring. He spent time deep in thought, we can be sure. He spent time drafting and revising his works. He had a family and a life.

And he wrote, by hand (no typewriters, no email) a staggering number of letters to correspondents around the world.

In a variety of languages.

In his Copious Free Time he read books.

Charles Darwin belongs to a lost age, but consider his impact on our world, and stand in awe of what he achieved by reading, and writing by hand.

Talk to Me !

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Turning Down Work – Part 2 of 3

It’s tough to do, but it‘s fun.

Here is the fun part: Suppose they go to CTN; chances are strong that any member there will shy away from Mac Excel and say “You should speak to Chris Greaves”; my reputation there is that I do the awkward and difficult stuff.

It sounds like your expertise will be an asset, so I'd like to book you for a half day. Is that 4 hours? To avoid unnecessary costs, I'd like to meet in the common area of my building. It's set up for meetings and has internet access. Does this work for you? Also, is Friday morning an option? If not, tomorrow afternoon works well. I look forward to hearing from you.

Heh heh!

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Friday, February 25, 2011

Web Marketing for Those Who Don’t Believe in Web Marketing

I had a call from Geoff Hewko of iDealVisitor , a very patient guy. He spent an hour on the phone with ME, a die-hard techno-guru who can throw up more obstacles than a …

The gist of his message was this:

Even though I am not selling my services through the web, it is the web that will help me sell my services.

My story: I am embarked on a program of meeting face-to-face with the senior executives in Toronto who tell THEIR subordinates to write the cheques; Presidents, CEOs, CFOs and the like. My target market is members of The Deep Pockets Club in Toronto and Mississauga.

What, I ask, is the point of all this Search Engine Optimization stuff? I am not reaching out to businesses in Tucson or Century City.

  • Here is the Answer

I should start to distribute free products (e.g. Indexer ) and free advice (e.g. upbringing ) and people around the world will then rave about me. I become an acknowledged expert. People link into my pages and quote me in their blogs and online newsletters.

GOOGLE thus sees that I am a big player.

Then I take the President of Global Congolbulations out to lunch; we exchange cards. Back in his office he Googles Chris Greaves and waddyaknow! I appear in 20 of the first 25 hits, and each hit is someone telling the world how wonderful I am.

Alternatively, the President of Global Congolbulations needs an executive trainer, so in his office he Googles Executive Trainer and waddyaknow! I appear in 20 of the first 25 hits, and each hit is someone telling the world how wonderful I am.

Starting to make sense?

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Thursday, February 24, 2011

Turning Down Work – part 1 of 3

It’s tough to do, but it‘s fun.

I was asked to deliver training in Macintosh Excel; I’m good at Excel and I’ve taught people on Macs before. I returned the call, solicited some details.

The prospect wants to make the spreadsheets “work better”, so I spend time determining what is meant by “work better” and suggest a half-day's training.

No, comes the response, I need only 2 hours.

How does the prospect know that it is only 2 hours training to resolve the issues when they don’t know the magnitude of the issues.

We talk some more, then I fire off a short email suggesting a half-day of training at my standard half-day rates.

Remember, I’m walking into a minefield here, and the client thinks they can just siphon a wealth of information from my brain painlessly in 120 minutes.

Back comes the response: How about three-quarters of my stated fee for three hours? Three hours, in training circles, is a half-day of training – 3 hours before lunch and 3 hours after.

In other words, let’s play the game of Negotiation.

Let’s not.

This is a form which, by the prospects admission, sells $100,000 luxury packages.

This is NOT a fellow-colleague who may well return the favor.

(There’s no way I can book onto a $100,000 package if I chip 25% of my regular fees, is there?).

My response:

I'm sorry I can't do that. I bill out by the full day or 1/2 day only. I deliver quality training based on 20+ years experience in developing spreadsheet applications, all the way from Introduction and basics through to the establishment and use of VBA libraries. You can probably find a cheaper trainer offering an hourly rate through the Computer Trainers Network at http://ctn.cloverpad.org/ Best wishes with your workbooks.

As stated above, it’s a tough decision to say goodbye to revenue, but it feels So Good to know that I have a set of standards.

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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Why Not Switch to My Cell Phone?

I have now accumulated about 20 contacts who prove difficult to reach by phone.

I know the difficulty, because the comments or memo field is a series of entries like “2011/02/07 11:19 got vm”.

In some cases my name might be showing up on call display and since we haven’t met, it may be easier just to NOT pick up the phone that to resolve this with an awkward brush-off.

I am contemplating an ambush.

My Virgin Mobile phone was paid for with cash, no name, no address etc. Untraceable, really.

I might spend a morning burning up a few minutes, calling from my cell phone instead of my landline, just to see if out of 20 difficult contacts I can score some hits.

Once they pick up the phone, the meet-for-lunch issue gets resolved one way or another; either they agree to lunch at some future date, or they need to make it clear that they are not interested.

And that means my time and a few dollars will be well spent.

Podcast: WhyNotSwitchtoMyCellPhone.mp3

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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Nurturing the Sales Lead

I am still trying to meet Frank for lunch. I have spoken with him directly by phone twice in the past five years, but we have never met. I did some work through the firm, but not through him, about 10 years ago. Yes, it’s one of those neglected Good Contacts.

I called one of my mentors, Rick Shea of Optiv8 and he built up my knowledge.

Remember that I feel I’m good at establishing first-contact by asking strangers out to lunch, but am having problems bridging the gap to clinch a sale.

Rick calls it “Nurturing the sales lead”.

Rick says all the people in the world can be divided into “those who do know you” and “those who do NOT know you”. I am good at moving people from the second group to the first group.

The people who know me, however they know me, are not ready to buy yet, and when they buy it will be on their schedule.

In the meantime I can educate them, increase their knowledge, by sending short emails about a product or service that they may not buy – yet – but that will educate and inform them about what I do, what sort of a guy I am.

In that way I stay in their mind as someone who can benefit them down the road, and down the road when they need help they are more likely to call me than someone else.

I have seen this happen in crude form when I mail out 300 flyers for a training course. No-one subscribes for training, but a couple of recipients phone me and ask me to develop an application for them.

Nurturing the sales lead.

I can improve in that direction.

And of course, Rick Shea is a wonderful guy!

Talk to Me !

Monday, February 21, 2011

Pitching the Sale

For some time now I’ve known that my method of establishing contacts is working well; not perfectly, but well. In a single morning I can usually set up three lunch dates with senior executives.

I am weak on bridging the gap between “starting a relationship” and “making a sale”. Once interest in a product or service is shown, I can usually clinch the deal, but the in-between bit defeats me, until now.

This morning one of two contacts at a recruiting firm came up for work; I have a neat bit of program code that might help them. I call the senior of the two and get voice-mail, so I hang up and call the junior of the two and get voice-mail, and I hang up.

If either of them had picked up the phone, I’d be happily pitching by now.

What to do?

I have to realize that I am no longer tied by the don’t-leave-a-voice-mail dictum here. I have taken BOTH executives to lunch and had an extensive chat. We have exchanged emails and phone calls.

It is acceptable now for me to send an unsolicited email describing what I have and asking them (both) who I should speak to.

Let’s see what happens …

Talk to Me !

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Hooray! Another Canceled Appointment

My daily schedule at the top level is:

Morning: Phone contacts, old and new; Hit The Phones.

Afternoon: Work on emails, locating new contacts, desk work, and allow the phone line to be free for incoming calls.

Occasionally I switch it around and try calling people in the early or late afternoon, and do deskwork in the morning; I’m trying to catch people who are never at their phones in the morning.

Days when I am due to take someone out to lunch, I leave here at around 10;30 for a noon appointment, so on those days I make a few urgent calls, dress and take the ‘bus, returning at around 2:30 pm.

Today I had a luncheon appointment, fired off a confirmation email and received in reply:

“I'm not going to be available today... sorry for the short notice. I have a client issue that needs my attention. Perhaps we could revisit our lunch date next week... Please advise as to an alternate date.”

This is a great gift to me. I had scheduled four or more hours away from my office; I have suddenly been given MORE THAN four hours I was not going to have.

Instead of phoning out from 9 to 10:30, and not being back until 2;30, I can set aside the period from 9:00 to 2:30 to break the back of the work of developing my MailChimp eLetter.

I have already set my phone message (“I’ll be away from my desk until mid-afternoon”), so I don’t feel guilty about unplugging the phone and leaving it unplugged until around 3 p.m.

And so I have almost SIX HOURS to focus without distraction on my eLetter campaign.

What a gift!

Talk to Me !

Friday, February 18, 2011

Dress Code

A Robert Half article from last year came to mind last night at a networking function.

My marketing efforts focus on presidents, CEOs, CFOs and CIOs of large organizations, and I always wear a suit, shirt and tie, polished shoes, to the first meeting.

I am old-fashioned and conservative, so I dress the part.

OfficeTeam offers the following interview attire don'ts and do's:

Don’t

Do

Assume you can "dress down," even if a company has a very casual atmosphere

Err on the conservative side and wear a suit or blazer. If you're working with a recruiter or HR representative, ask him or her for insight into the dress code.

Wear anything that is uncomfortable

Test-drive an outfit to ensure it fits well and makes you feel confident; also dress in layers so you can be at ease regardless of the temperature

Show up in clothing that is wrinkled, stained or torn

Pay attention to details and conduct a final head-to-toe assessment before leaving the house to ensure everything – including your hair, nails and shoes – is presentable

Over accessorize

Choose simple jewellery and be subtle with makeup, perfume or cologne

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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Answers to the Top 21 Most Frustrating PC Questions

Caution: I do not agree with all of the answers provided in this itbusiness.ca article, but I do agree with the list of questions.

You can read the questions and answers by clicking on the link below; or you can just skim the questions and file this item for future reference.

You can, as always, Talk to Me !

ITBusiness.ca Article

1. Where did my downloaded files go? Why can't I find them?

2. Why doesn't my iPad charge when I connect it to my computer?

3. Why does a video play on my desktop but not my laptop?

4. My printer won't print, and Windows won't allow me to cancel or delete print jobs. What's going on?

5. I hear beeps when I turn on my PC. What do they mean?

6. In a folder full of digital images, I often notice a file called Thumbs.db. What is it, and can I safely delete it?

7. Why does every digital camera--even the one on my smartphone--insist on storing photographs in a folder called DCIM?

8. My Recycle Bin has disappeared. How do I go about restoring it?

9. Why does Windows sometimes reboot without my permission, and how do I prevent that from happening?

10. Where do all these mysterious Web browser toolbars come from, and how do I get rid of them?

11. How did I end up with QuickTime on my PC, and do I need to keep it?

12. I have Microsoft Word installed on my PC. Why can't I open the .docx files my friend sent me?

13. Why won't Windows allow me to delete a certain file?

14. Why do some programs leave files and folders behind even after I've uninstalled them?

15. Why do Adobe Reader and Java update so frequently? Do I have to allow it?

16. Is it absolutely necessary to update Windows?

17. Does it matter whether I 'Safely Remove' devices?

18. Windows asks me if I want to enable Sticky Keys. What are they, and how should I use them?

19. Why can't I send out a particular file attachment through e-mail?

20. How can I determine whether an unknown Website is safe to visit?

21. What are the .dat files I sometimes receive in e-mail messages, and how do I open them?

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Yabbut …

I have a long-running non-joke about Canadians, the most polite and non-confrontational people in the World.

Make a statement to a Canadian, and they listen quietly, and then begin their response with “Yabbut”. You can always tell who is a Canadian; they start their sentences with “Yabbut”.

It’s nothing to do with place of birth or of passport. It’s a frame of mind that says “Don’t upset anyone”.

(As an aside, Torontonians are the only people who, when you step backwards in a line-up or queue and inadvertently tread on the toes of the person behind you, that person, if from Toronto, will quickly say “Sorry!”, even though YOU are the one who trod on THEIR toes!)

Rather than disagree with what you have said, Canadians start with “Yes”, they pause, and then continue with “But”; this becomes slurred into “Yabbut”.

I find myself saying it too, which means I have suffered too many cold and bleak winters.

Today I learned two variations on this theme: “I agree with you, but …” and “I agree with you, because …” and I was struck by my reaction to both responses.

My reaction to “Yes, But” was negative; “Let’s fight about it”.

My reaction to “Yes, Because” was positive; “Oh good! We are on the same wavelength, let’s not fight about it”.

It didn’t matter that my partner went on to tear me to shreds. The second lead-in had me seeing their argument from their point of view, rather than from mine.

Talk to Me !

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Rounding up Stray Sheep

From time to time I deal with a contact that proves a little awkward to meet. Strictly speaking, if they are difficult to get hold of, I don’t want to pursue them as a business partner, but there again, some of them prove irresistible.

A typical comment lodged by me runs “This number has a plain-Jane voice mail. A better strategy might be to drop in to the office, but there again it might be a drop-box”. The firm has issued a press release on Canada News Wire with a contact name, title (President!) and phone number, but when I dial the number the call always drops straight into voice-mail, and a sweet young thing asks me to leave a message.

That makes it difficult to talk with someone.

On the other hand, this might be a nice little boutique firm that could use some dedicated help.

The address is an office suite at 45 St. Clair Avenue West, just a short walk from Yonge Street and the St. Clair subway station.

I am not going to blow two hours and six dollars to go check the place out, but it would be a neat thing to do next time I am visiting someone else in that area.

But how to remember?

Not every boutique firm will hide on a major street such as St. Clair Avenue, and anyway, the known firm I’m visiting may not be right on St. Clair Avenue West, so doing a match-up of street names in the contact data base won’t work.

Postal codes are not much help, since there is a completely different prefix either side of Yonge Street (and either side of St. Clair Avenue West).

I could delve into Google maps or Google earth, but I don’t want to become an expert on Google applets this year; or the next.

My current solution is to pin a transit map to the door and mark these rogue firms with a labeled push pin, so that before I head out the door I can see at a glance if there is an auxiliary errand in the district.

Got a better idea?

(I found one: "Contacts")

Talk to Me !

Monday, February 14, 2011

Talk About Issues, Not Your Business

A recent post in the Staples Blog on advertising had a paragraph that’s of great value to solo entrepreneurs who don’t advertise:
  • Talk about issues, not your business. The media won’t run a story about your upcoming shoe sale – that’s advertising, not news, so don’t waste their time. You must attach your business to some current and relevant issues that interest the media. For instance, a real estate agent might offer five suggestions to beautify a home in order to achieve a desirable selling price amidst this market of declining home sales.

I find Staples Blog worth reading, because even ‘though I don’t advertise, I write about my services and products.

All too often I find myself writing what a great program I have written or what a great training course it is – writing about features rather than benefits.

So, as of today I will make a conscious effort to say nothing about what’s under-the-hood, and everything about what happens when you press the gasoline pedal.

P.S. We all advertise; a 30-second elevator speech is an advertisement; an introduction at the networking event is an introduction; the first minute of the sit-down lunch is an advertisement; your business card is an advertisement. Even the way you dress is an advertisement.

We just don’t PAY for advertising in the media, is all.

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Saturday, February 12, 2011

Apologize Once

Wires got crossed at his end and we didn’t meet. He apologized the next day.

Apology accepted.

I figure that if that was the worst thing to happen to me all day, I’d be OK with that. (It’s a bit like shrugging off high gasoline prices in being grateful to get home without a scratch)

I emailed about something else and got another apology.

I called today to set up another meeting, and was greeted with an apology.

Enough already.

We are business folks; we know that wires get crossed.

I’m looking for open-minded, forward-thinking contacts who, after a stumble, are willing to pick themselves up and carry on.

Who will recognize MY human-ness and be prepared to accept an apology from me, and then turn to face the broad sunlit uplands.

I’d rather not deal with someone who feels that an apology is a never-ending flagellation.

Podcast ApologizeOnce.MP3

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Friday, February 11, 2011

Riding Herd

I phoned a client this morning to see how we were getting on. I am waiting for sign-off on a project we started four months ago, should have been completed in 3 days. Christmas intervened, and before that, time off for Christmas Shopping.

“Has it really been four months?”, incredulous. Yes it has. “I’ll get on to it right away”.

For me it is cash-flow.

For us it is the life of the project, for many small projects die if they are left unattended. I suspect that what seemed urgent months ago doesn’t seem quite so urgent in the light of more recent catastrophes, and so the old project is left to wither on the vine while new plants are nurtured.

I try not to be too pushy, but it is important to get things neatly wrapped up according to our agreed proposal, so that I can get on with the next sale to the client, and the client can get on with learning what I good job I have done!

Podcast: RidingHerd.MP3

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Thursday, February 10, 2011

Two Good Meetings

A great day yesterday. I had scheduled a meeting with a contact I’d chatted with by phone for three years but never met; lunch at noon.

A lunch meeting from last month had put me in contact with a charitable street-kids organization which might be able to make use of The Prospector to harvest warm leads to corporate donors. Coffee at 10:30.

Yes, they are impressed and yes please they’d like to try it.

No, there’s no charge; this is a service I wrote for myself, besides, they could think of it as an equivalent cash donation I’ll never be able to afford, but can deliver a service for free. He will, I know, report back to my initial contact.

On to lunch. Waddyaknow? My noontime contact used to be a social worker and yes, in her current position could use some corporate donors.

That made me think of two other street kids organizations I know.

My morning meeting caused that CEO to suggest he would pass my name on to another company.

So no money changing hands, but then these weren’t sales calls.

But to two people I have made an impression that I’m “not just a pretty face”, and my pool of senior officer contacts is increasing day by day. That corporate world is learning what I can do.

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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Paid Speaking Engagements (7/5) Breakthrough

So you’ve been gaining publicity and exposure through local papers, radio and TV spots. Comes the Big Day when you are asked to speak for half an hour on Chicago radio.

Woo-Wee!

You’ve done your homework; You gave a great talk, and you think “That’s great! I’ve spoken on radio in California and Illinois”.

Here’s the Good News: You are now an international speaker. (If I’ve praised you, you are “internationally acclaimed” because I hold three passports).

As a speaker of international repute, you can start charging for your engagements.

Up until now you’ve been grateful for the exposure, and rightly so, but that initial exposure has spread the word that you know what you’re talking about, and word gets around.

There’s no Bad News, by the way.

However, there’s no reason to bite the hands that have fed you; the local papers, radio and TV deserve to air you for free.

1) They got you to where you are now. You owe them for your exalted position that has put you in demand as an international speaker.

2) You will, of course, let them know, as they re-request you, that you now charge for speaking, but since they got you to where you are, you want to offer them your services for free. They will appreciate your candor, and the freebie.

3) They will, from time to time, boast of how they can get you on air anytime they want, despite your international presence.

4) Chances are strong that by getting an expensive speaker for free they will increase the frequency of your appearances

5) And in doing so, they’ll be spreading the word for you more than ever before.

Congratulations!

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Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Connection Between Obesity and Social Networking

Not, I’m afraid, Social Networking as in Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, but Real Social Networking.

Steve Pakin (TVO) interviewing Nicholas Christakis .

What makes this most surprising to me is that I was listening to the podcast on my way to pick up yet-another-copy of River Out Of Eden by Richard Dawkins, genetics, evolution and Darwin, and here I am listening to a podcast covering at least evolution and genetics with a link to my new life in social networking .

It’s a strange world.

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Monday, February 7, 2011

Obtaining FREE Help from your Peer Group

Happens all the time.

There’s one in every group.

I know, because I’m one of them.

The nit-picking guy who can always find fault; the one who is first to cast a comment, and a negative one at that, on your first foray into anything.

I think I’ve stumbled on a fool-proof method of silencing them, or at least dampening their enthusiasm for pedantic conversation.

Ask Them for Help!

Let’s suppose you’ve just built or revamped your LinkedIn site, and you tweet about it, and you get back as a first comment “You need to build up your profile a lot, Chris”, whereas following comments from others take the form “Nice Job! Welcome aboard!” and similar.

We all know it’s a first effort, right? And there are always corrections and things to do as we learn more, so that first comment is uninformative; a waste of bandwidth.

Here’s the Trick

Bury the negative guy or gal in email.

Send them an email asking for a list of 5 things they think you should do, then do those you feel like doing and ignore the rest. Say why, but be BRIEF.

You don’t want to spend too much time on stuff that’s not profitable; but you want to benefit and learn from things you did not know.

There’s no need to say Please or Thank You in this exchange either; you were prodded into it, remember?

Be consistent. Fire off three emails – spaced an hour or so apart – for each negative comment or response.

If your correspondent has as much brain-power as my cat, they’ll hesitate before casting any sort of comment in future, and you’ll be rid of them.

Talk to Me !

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Marketing in Paris

We drove from Toronto, Ontario, planning to spend the day in Paris, Ontario, but decided to stop for a coffee in Ayr, Ontario – population about 3,500.

At the little family café we upgraded to a small breakfast of eggs and toast.

The manager of the café recommended the gift store next door.

While we were making some purchases there, the manager of that store recommended a ladies outfitter across from the post office.

We did business with the ladies outfitters, and they suggested San Francisco’s for lunch.

We were too full for lunch, but caught a young lady on her way out of the restaurant clutching two pizza boxes.

“Any good?” we asked. She nodded. “They are the best!”

We drove to Paris, walked around, and returned for an early-evening supper in Ayr.

The small community of Ayr converted about $3 of coffee into about $150 of business, and should be congratulated for its effective marketing.

Podcast: MarketingInParis.MP3

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Friday, February 4, 2011

Two Good Luncheons

Two good luncheons last week, Thursday and Friday.

One with a VP Communications of a major insurance company, one with the CFO of a very profitable and large financial house.

I confess to a frisson of excitement going in to these lunches, but as noon draws near I realize that I am an exceptionally brilliant person who can help the executives once we get to know each other, once I understand their problems, and once they realize that I am not a regular run-of-the-mill consultant.

Apparently suggesting lunch in the first sentence of the first phone call as the first contact means something.

One executive discussed new application software and suggested that he’d keep me in mind if the issue of training came up; the other perked up at mention of The Prospector , thinking it might be a good data mining tool for donors for a foundation of which he is a director.

Say what you like.

Two meetings, two opening doors.

A good week!

Talk to Me !

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Startling Brilliant New Developments

Toronto is battening down for a major winter storm , schools closed etc. as if it’s the first time anyone has seen snow. GO trains will use the weather as an excuse for the traditional daily delays.

Innisfail in Queensland is being hit, dead centre by Cyclone Yasi . My sister and her husband live in Innisfail.

And on Monday Night I listened with rapture (I just looked it up, it’s the correct term here) to Promod Sharma at the AIC , talking about Marketing.

Tuesday I was busy all day.

This morning I rose at 5 a.m. and decided to

  • Get Rid of My Old Web Site
  • Build 3 New Ones
  • Start a New Blog
  • Start a Professional eLetter
  • Open a Twitter Account (I’ve Tweeted Once, Just to See If My Hair Would Fall Out – it has – see my photo)
  • Fill Out 20+ Pages of Notes on My New Direction.

It feels good to be alive!

Talk to Me !

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

For this You’ll Need a Peer Mentor

The Biz-launch blog hands out advice to companies who are considering hiring YOU!

Here’s what you do:

  • Pass the questionnaire along to your partner-in-crime, your buddy in entrepreneurship.
  • Ask them to visit your home page and to rate your home page on the five questions.
  • Then make changes.
  • Then ask you peer to re-rate the home page.
  • Then take them out to lunch.

They’ve earned it.

P.S. No barter here; if they ask you to rate their home page, you each take each other out to lunch.

Two lunches.

You’ve earned them.

Talk to Me !

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Bundle up – It’s Profitable Out There!

Here is The Toronto Star giving out free advice to entrepreneurs.

“If you give people a choice of a bundle (a set meal combo) or à la carte choices, they will consistently pick the bundle,” Sharpe says.

“People still chose the bundle even if it wasn’t cheaper. Price is not the driver here. They said they wouldn’t have purchased fries at all, or chosen small fries, but they ate what they got in the bundle.”

The article is worth reading, the more so if you replace the fat-food items with your products and services.

People love a bundle.

Look! Even McDonalds has been setting up your clients for you for the past 40 years or so:

Bundling gets ingrained in consumers as children, Sharpe says. A McDonald’s Happy Meal is a bundle aimed at “assigning emotions to food.”

And for the clincher, can you remember what happened the last time you purchased a computer?

Even computer companies will bundle a package of hardware and software as the ideal choice, she says, relieving consumers of the anxiety of making their own choices.

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