Archive for January, 2008

 

I hated voice mail messages… – 25. January, 2008

Until now. I recently migrated completely away from listening to voice mail. I have always been disenchanted with voice mail and have not been the best at following up with it. Switching to Simulscribe made a drastic difference in my efficiency and improved my ability to follow up and organize my callbacks. Typically, I do not endorse services on my blog unless they are truly remarkable and make an impact on my daily life. That’s exactly what happened with these services.

Simulscribe is a voice mail transcription service that I forward my callers to (unbenounced to them) and they leave a normal message. The message is then transcribed and emailed to me. This provides with the ability to view a voice message at any time on my BlackBerry and come back to it later to read it, or I can even read it during a meeting.

SimulSays is their visual voice mail service. It provides a transcription of your voice mail and the audio file if you need to play it as well. You can listen to your messages in any order and come back to them at anytime (think IPhone style, but they were first). You can also easily forward the message to someone else in the form of an email.

I apologize for the commercial; however, I figure if it could make such a big difference in my life it has to be able to help others. Try out their 30-day, no pressure trial. That’s how they got me hooked! If you try it out, please leave your feedback, I’d love to hear what you think about it.

Posted in Business, Sales

Martin Luther King Jr. Day – 21. January, 2008

A great quote from one of our greatest leaders…

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.,  (1929 – 1968 ),  American civil rights leader.

Posted in Inspiration, Quotes

Take the time to start ideating – 9. January, 2008

IBM has recently released a commercial that shows a group of employees lying a conference room ideating. In my searches, I have noticed that many bloggers that have posted about ideating seem to have shed a negative light on this idea. I’m on the other side of the fence, I think that having an environment that supports ideating and incubation of ideas will lead to things you may have never done. The beginning of the year is always a great time to think about the strategies your company uses to implement and test new ideas. If you are not constantly coming with new ideas, how are you remaining competitive? I know in the high-tech space, a company without creativity does not exist or at least not for long.

Another important idea: If you’re in a leadership role and your employees come to you with ideas, make sure you do not “fire hose” their ideas. Not all of their ideas will be the “one,” but killing their enthusiasm on one idea will enable them to stop being creative and working to improve the company. Take time to listen and work to find even the smallest amount of value in their idea and point them in the right direction for future ideas. (Fire Hose Hat tip: Julia Marrocco)

UPDATE: I finally found the actually video on YouTube. Watch it below.

Do you ask too much from your customers? – 2. January, 2008

Do you ask too much from your customers?

While at the dentist the other day, I got to thinking about how much we should really ask our customers to do in order to do business with our companies. Although, I understand the importance of brushing, flossing, using some other random gum cleaner, and everything else they recommend there must be a limit to what we can expect from our clients.

When you engage your customers in the sales process, how much do you ask of them? Who is doing most of the work, you or your customer? As a salesperson, you need to consider some important things while in the process of courting a prospective client:

  • What value or importance does this portion of the process play in gaining this prospects business?
  • How can I simplify the process without jeopardizing the integrity of the process necessary to complete the proposal?
  • As a marketer or salesperson how does this make the client/prospect feel about your company and the experience?
  • Make sure you are always authentically providing a solution that is in the best interest of your client.

I’m sure there are hundreds of other important things to consider, help me list those with your comments. Ultimately, I want you to think about your customer experience. Take the time map out how a typical customer interaction occurs and if it feels fluid and natural to you if you were to go through it. Another great option is to survey your customers and get their feedback.

The takeaway: Always listen to how your customers and prospects react throughout the sales process and make adjustments to your process accordingly. The biggest mistake a salesperson or SMB owner can make is to avoid customer feedback and not adapt to customer reactions.