Sunday, June 19, 2011
Pet Care Ft Myers | Pets In Film Day June 19, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Business And Social Media Find Outside The Box Way To Promote And Help Charity
Today is the final day to tweet, post, like, and click to help Michele Lorito Chase win Audi's "progress is" contest. She and 9 other finalists are in competition to see who can drum up the most traffic using social media. The winner will select a charity of their choice to receive $25,000 from Audi of America.
During the Super Bowl Audi announced that they were sponsoring a contest where the top ten entrants who tweeted (posted a message) on Twitter about what they thought progress is using the hashtag #progressis (For Twitter neophytes, a hashtag is the number symbol (#) attached to the front of a word in a Twitter tweet. Using a hashtag in a tweet allows anyone to quickly search twitter for tweets that contain the tagged word). Michele’s entry …
“When a good idea becomes a building block for a better one. That’s what #ProgressIs –“
… was one of the ten finalists! The 10 finalists are now in a competition to see who can get the most tweets, blogs, twitpics, and Facebook posts and comments containing the hashtag #progressis AND a hashtag unique to each of the finalists … Michele’s unique hashtag is #oldphone. I’m asking all who read this, and especially those in Florida, to help Michele help those in her community by posting a message on Twitter containing the two hashtags, or making a post on Facebook, or if you are a blogger … include it in your blog! A good example of such a tweet or post would be …
“Help @ghostexecutive win $25K for charity from Audi. #Progressis moving up from an #oldphone . Please RT”
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Effective Tips To Maximize Your Use Of "To Do" Lists
The habit of making lists, setting goals and planning ones actions in advance has been a well known standard for businessmen, multi-taskers, and those who strive to get the most out of their day to day activities and lives for years. There is something about the very act of writing down ones intentions and goals on paper that anchors them in our conscious AND subconscious minds. Perhaps just as important is the act of crossing these tasks off our list once they have been accomplished ... each time we mark a goal as "completed" it affirms to our subconscious that we have been successful, and provides an opportunity to assess "what is next", "what is most important now", and "how far do I have to go". These are the tools, techniques, and habits used by many to optimize the results they get from daily goal setting and list making!
Recommended Tools:
Ballpoint pen
Red ballpoint pen
Metal clips
5 x 8 index cards (2 or more colors preferable)
Clipboard
Legal pad
Highlighter (2 or more colors preferable)Set aside time to create your lists and MAKE IT A PRIORITY!
If you have appointments with others include the time you agreed to meet them!
Write down "must do" commitments in RED INK!
Highlight items that you are habitually avoiding, missing, or putting off!
Make separate lists for complex or long term projects (use * to denote see separate list)!
Use clips to attach relevant lists to your day timer, daily planner, or appointment book!
Use color coded cards for different types of projects!
Write down your long term goals and carry that list in your wallet where you will notice it often!
Review your list throughout the day, cross off completed tasks, & plan the best use of time to complete the remainder!
Carry your lists, Day Timer, and list making supplies on a clipboard & learn to use them together as one tool!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Understanding The Importance Of Corporate Culture
Monday, May 17, 2010
Body Language: Listening To What They Won't Tell You
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The beatings will continue ... until morale improves
I have always postulated that ALL jobs were customer service jobs, and have held myself and my staff to a high standard regarding the treatment of our clients, our employers, and each other. With that being said ... when I am out in public, or at those times when I am the customer ... I generally will notice the quality of customer service before I am even able to form an opinion regarding the product or service I am purchasing! And what I've noticed lately is that customer service is at an all time low! The merchants and professional's go through the motions, and say the right things, but, they do so without passion and commitment, they are more interested in concluding the transaction expediently than completing it to their clients ultimate satisfaction. So how do we, as managers, prevent this from happening in our own company or department? Here are a few thoughts ...
Let your employees know they are the survivors... and they survived because they ARE the cream of the crop!
In today's market most goods and services MUST be competitively priced, few if any clients are paying more simply for status, so the deciding factor in who they do business with is going to be the quality of the service they recieve. Remind your people daily that your competitor's temporary shortfall of enthusiasm in customer service translates into an opportunity for you!
Devote a meeting to drills playing out semi scripted interactions with mock clients, engage in role playing, and have your employee's practice smiling in a mirror. This might sound useless to some, but, I have seen it produce results that vary between surprising and amazing!
Never miss an opportunity to point out an employee who handled a difficult situation admirably. It will help define the standard you expect from them all.
Contact Rick Thomas at 239 896-7020
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
The changing face of social media and SEO
In 1997 I don't think I'd ever heard the term " social media ", although I was beginning to grasp the concept. That was the year I, and a number of my friends, got our first pc's, and we really had no idea what to do with it! We could do research, email each other, trade pictures, join clubs, even shop a little if we wanted ... though relatively few did ( in my circle at least ). For the most part everything we did online was for entertainment. There were even a number of sites where one could find " Love " through online dating, and it was through a friends experience on one of these sites that I got my first glimpse of the marketing potential of the internet!
My friend had no girlfriend and was actively looking for one, he had signed up for several of the most popular dating sites and was quite optimistic that in no time someone would answer his ad, and that might be the start of something good! However after several weeks ... not one reply! By this time he had decided he needed to post a picture and that would make a difference ... so he posted a pic and waited... several weeks went by and still no reply! Now his confidence was sagging a bit, but, he didn't give up ... he went through and added more details about himself to the profile, one of the things he included was that he usually worked weekends doing drywall repairs and painting, within a few days he was talking to a number of gals ... and they all wanted him to come by and do some work for them! It was at this point that the power of social media first showed up on my radar. I was amazed at the results, and I saw the potential, but failed to follow up on making it work for me ... to this very day it perplexes me as to how I could have not recognized the internet was about to become a major marketplace!
So here we are in 2010 ... and social media rules the roost! Newspapers are scrambling to find their niche on the net, the folks who buy papers are looking for crossword puzzles and the cartoon section, not ads and coupons. The number of businesses buying space in the yellow pages is dropping rapidly as well. Today we get our info off our computers, even a 7 year old knows if you want to know the answer to something ... you " google it "! With every business in the world looking to reach their customers on the net the most important factor for drawing those clients to their door is often where they are positioned in the google rankings! Search engine optimization ( SEO ) is quickly becoming the determining factor in who will dominate local markets for the foreseeable future. The writing is on the wall and we can't afford to ignore it any longer, as business people we are going to have to adapt our approach to marketing or be left behind.