Author Archive
Sales: You’ve Sent the Proposal. Now What? Pt.1
End the Dilemma of the Dangling Proposal
We’ve all experienced it: the elation of having the prospective client request a proposal as quickly as possible only to have it languish in the land of unreturned follow-up phone calls.
What is really going on with these prospects anyway? How do we as professionals avoid the dilemma of the dangling proposal, and increase our proposal approval ratios?
To get to the solution we have to look behind the curtain, and see what the driving forces are around the requests for proposal.
For the purposes of this piece, we will focus primarily on one company’s specific request for a proposal from your firm or company vs. the cattle-call RFP (I’d recommend staying away from those as much as possible anyway).
What is prompting the prospect to request a proposal in the first place? The usual assumption is they are moving one step closer to doing business with you and will buy once they see your offer, both in terms of service content and fees. The first error here is that this is only an assumption. (more…)
Add comment February 3, 2009
Technology: Resize a YouTube Video to Fit Your Needs
You may want to add video to your Website or blog to jazz it up and keep people engaged longer. Did you try it and didn’t like the way it looked? Perhaps it didn’t fit your layout.
By default, YouTube videos may be larger than you need. You can easily resize them to fit your design by changing the width and height in the Embed code (located to the right of the video).
Note: Computer code makes me dizzy too so just relax. You can do this.
Example: <object width=”425″ height=”350″ …
1) Copy and paste the code as you normally would.
2) Experiment until you reach the desired size, keeping the height and width in proportion.
Add comment December 18, 2008
Technology: Get Found Online with Free Blog Tools – Part II
I hope you’ve already added enhancements to your blog from the previous post (Part I) and improved your chances of getting found online. Here are a few more things to implement.
Create a sitemap. A sitemap organizes the information on your Website or blog and puts all the data a search engine needs in one place. It doesn’t boost your rankings but it makes it easier for search engines to index your site (which improves rankings). Try this free online sitemap generator.
Register it in all the right places. There are many ways to promote your blog. Two include listing it with Technorati.com (an Internet search engine for blogs) and BlogCatalog.com (a social blog directory where thousands of blog sites are searched, rated, and reviewed).
Create a mobile version. Mofuse is a plug-in that detects when someone is coming to your blog or Website from a handheld device and will offer up a mobile version of it.
If you have ideas to share, please leave a comment.
2 comments December 11, 2008
HR: Gift-Giving: Holiday Etiquette 101 -Tips for Gift-Giving at the Office
Choosing the right holiday gift for your colleagues, your boss, or your clients can be one more overwhelming task to add to your plate during the holiday season. That’s because gift-giving in the business environment has its own set of rules and guidelines. Author and etiquette expert Jacqueline Whitmore has put together the business gift-giving tips and advice you need to know before beginning your holiday shopping. Below are Whitmore’s “Whit-Bits” that every businessperson should keep in mind this holiday season.
Set a spending limit for gift-giving exchanges. Once a price limit is set among coworkers or for your office’s holiday gift exchange, make sure you stick to it. Limits help participants select an appropriate gift at an affordable price. Whenever you overspend, you run the risk of looking like a show-off. On the other hand, spending considerably below the norm might come off looking stingy.
Give thoughtful and useful gifts. Whether it’s for your boss, colleague, assistant or client, gifts that lend both organization and style to an office environment are always appreciated.
Tailor your gift to the taste and personality of the receiver. Keeping track of your clients’ and colleagues’ likes, dislikes, interests, and hobbies is always helpful at gift-giving time.
Consider corporate culture. Before sending any gifts to clients or vendors, it is best to check the receiver’s corporate policy guidelines on gift-giving. Otherwise, a well-intended gift may be returned to you.
Bring coworkers together to get your boss a gift. Brainstorm gift ideas with your colleagues and have everyone chip in on one group gift for the boss. If you work in a small office or know your boss well, it’s acceptable to give a smaller but personal gift, like a gift card, book, CD, or gift for his/her family or pet.
Personalize but don’t get too personal. Personalizing your gift shows your creative side while letting your recipient know that you’re an attentive listener. Just be careful to stay away from items that are too personal in nature, such as perfume, clothing, red roses, alcohol, or tobacco products.
Beware of humorous or gag gifts. Avoid giving a humorous gift if you don’t know a person well. What you might think is cute or funny may be offensive or insulting to someone else and could quickly damage or even sabotage a business relationship.
Always remember a personal note. The hand-written note adds a nice touch to any gift. Those deserving a note of thanks include anyone who’s given you advice, their time, or a helping hand this year. Appropriate wrapping paper and presentation are also very important, and whenever possible, try to give the gift in person.
Jacqueline Whitmore is the founder and director of The Protocol School of Palm Beach, the author of Business Class: Etiquette Essentials for Success at Work, and the gift giving etiquette expert for Sam’s Club. To subscribe to her monthly e-newsletter, visit her Website at www.etiquetteexpert.com.
6 comments November 27, 2008
Technology: Create Your Own TV Channel on Your Blog or Website
4 comments November 20, 2008
Finance: Organize Your Receipts Before Tax Time
Hopefully you’re not keeping receipts in a shoebox and have to scrounge around at tax time to get everything in order. And I hope you won’t have to pay your accountant for the extra hours it’ll take to get everything organized.
When I started my business almost 11 years ago, as part of the Accounting section of my filing system, I had a folder for each vendor I spent money with regularly (e.g., gas, light, Office Depot, etc.). When I found myself sticking receipts in a To Be Filed folder, I knew my system was too tedious. Because I was procrastinating about filing everything, I knew I needed to simplify my system.
Here is a simple solution that works for me.
- Create a home for all receipts for the current month. This can be a file folder, tray, basket, or whatever works for you.
- Create a home for all pay stubs from clients. For all checks you receive for the month, keep these pay stubs separately and near your receipts.
- Keep everything with that month’s bank statement. When the bank statement arrives, use a jumbo paper clip to keep all receipts and pay stubs for that month behind it.
This system is simple so it’s easy to maintain.
One thing though, I had to figure out a way to quickly find receipts for higher-priced products in case I needed repair, etc. I created a contact in Outlook called “Big Ticket Items.” In the text area of the contact I have a 2-column table that is similar to the one below. If I ever need to find a receipt, I’ll know which month/year bank statement to pull. (To create the table: if you use Outlook as your email editor, create the table in Word and paste it into the text area of the contact. Once it’s there, you can click inside the cells and type as you normally would. When you need a new row, click inside the last cell of the table and tab. Once this table fills up, you can quickly find what you need by using Find. Open the Big Ticket Items contact, click anywhere in the body, then press F4. Type whatever you’re looking for in the resulting Find what box and press Enter.)
| Date Purchased | Description |
| 5/15/2008 | HP Laptop, Best Buy |
| 5/29/2008 | Office Telephone, Office Depot – ATT |
| 8/6/2008 | Luggage at TJ Maxx |
| 8/23/2008 | Headset for ATT phone, Office Depot |
| 8/29/2008 | Took iPhone back and got BlackBerry, AT&T |
What system have you developed that works for you? Let us know.
4 comments November 13, 2008
Management: Google Makes It Easier to Run Your Business
Here is a great post, 10 Top Google Tools That Solopreneurs Must Have, on free tools from Google that will help you run your business. I especially liked this article because internet strategist, JB Brathwaite, took time to explain what each popular tool does and whether it will help you make money or save you time and money.
1 comment November 6, 2008
Management: Social Networking Can Lead to Social Notworking
Jade didn’t understand why it was so hard for her to finish projects on time. She worked crazy hours but was always trying to catch up. I suggested that she maintain a time log for at least a week to track how she was spending her time.
Guess what? Jade was spending more time twittering, flickring, facebooking, and myspacing than she was working. She’d landed inside the latest craze of all the popular social networking tools, but she became so addicted it led to social notworking.
If this sounds familiar and you think the same thing has happened to you, keep the time log for a few days. Make a visual of how you’re spending your time and let me know what you discover.
I hope you’ll start to balance all this. Social networking is good for business if you do it right, but it can’t get done to the detriment of everything else.
2 comments October 30, 2008
Marketing: Shameless Self-Promotion: Do-It-Yourself PR
Have you seen your competition mentioned in magazines, leading newspapers, or as guest on TV shows? Why not you? Have you tried? Do you know how to make this happen for you?
On getting publicity, here are some things to consider.
- When you have a third-party endorsement from the media, you gain credibility in the marketplace and will be perceived as an expert in your industry.
- Most of the company news you see is planted by that company. You can do this for yourself or hire a public relations (PR) agency to handle for you.
- Firms specializing in PR who actually know what they’re doing are not cheap.
- PR agencies cannot guarantee coverage (with reputable media), regardless of the money you spend.
- You need to be relevant and have a different take on a story in order to get noticed by the media.
- In order to get quoted in the media, it needs to be obvious that you are an expert in your field.
- Journalists are super busy and will not return phone calls, reply to emails, or respond to faxes.
So knowing all this, what can you do?
SCORE Atlanta had a conference earlier this month where we focused on building sales and marketing skills of people already in business. I conducted a seminar titled “Shameless Self-Promotion: Do-It-Yourself PR.” The slides from that presentation are available online at www.slideshare.net/scoreatlanta.
This presentation will give you a lot of ideas…ones that have worked for me in landing mentions in/on O-The Oprah Magazine, Fortune Small Business, The TODAY show, and more. The key is not to try contacting the media but to position yourself so they call you.
All of my ideas take you down the road to more publicity by improving how you show up in organic searches on the Internet (usually referred to as SEO or search engine optimization).
Check it out and add to my ideas with your comments. (Since doing this presentation, I’ve added several more ideas to my list.) Let’s see if you have more.
2 comments October 23, 2008
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