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August 2007 - Posts

Wednesday, August 29, 2007 5:07 PM

Getting Your "Raving Fans" to Help You Sell...

This one is so good, I am copying wholesale from Andy Sernovitz Coffee Cup Software has an amazing page on their site where you can ask 100 real customer what they think about their products. We're talking about the ability to email real customers, and
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Wednesday, August 29, 2007 3:10 PM

Book Review: Art of Possibility

As you get older, the neural pathways in your mind become like different paths in a forest. Those that are used more often become easier to navigate. The tendency then is to walk down the easier, more comfortable paths (for the most part). It's a self-reinforcing
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Wednesday, August 29, 2007 2:52 PM

Cultural Sensitivity...

Everyone has seen those emails that attack American companies bringing their products overseas, like Coca Cola means "bite the wax tadpole" in Chinese . Well, "La Mer" may mean "the sea" in French, but it caught my eye at Neiman Marcus for another reason
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Tuesday, August 28, 2007 9:39 AM

Email Overload...and how to cope

Most nights, I go to bed with 0 emails in my inbox. Not every night, but that's the goal. Here's a good presentation you will enjoy. Merlin Mann , a well known productivity guru and creator of the popular 43 folders website talks about getting things
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Tuesday, August 28, 2007 9:36 AM

More PowerPoint Jihad...

It may be a losing battle, but convincing the world that it is not about 100 word text slides during your presentation IS a worthwhile goal. Here's a great post from Presentation Zen on the topic (with a book recommendation)
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
Monday, August 27, 2007 11:12 AM

If Ready to Go isn't...

If you're looking for a quick way to jumpstart your marketing efforts and you don't have a lot of time or money (who does, right?), then you should consider a Ready to Go (RTG) campaign. As one partner put it, "I think the program is the best that MS/Dynamics
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
Friday, August 24, 2007 12:46 PM

Book Review: Difficult Conversations

The higher you move up the experience ladder, the more you realize that success in most fields has less to do with technical/domain knowledge (obviously those are important) and more to do with the "softer skills" of things like interpersonal communications.
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Friday, August 24, 2007 11:58 AM

Stories make the sale...

You want evidence that stories can make a BIG difference in the sale? Here's a hilarious story that resulted in a (roughly) 14x ROI on a set of cheap Pokemon cards in an eBay auction. Why? It's a hugely entertaining story which generates HUGE word of
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Tuesday, August 21, 2007 12:55 PM

Are Your Biz Cards Remarkable?

Remember Joey Coleman? It was because of his business card alone that I introduced him to a number of my partners and generated some biz for him. Well, our favorite guy, Seth Godin, once again waxes eloquent...and this time on the subject of cards . He's
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
Tuesday, August 21, 2007 8:54 AM

TV Anywhere...

Picked up a copy of the Wall St. Journal today and read a good article called "Make Up Your Own Mine" about a gold mine disagreement in Romania. The author says, "Tonight, PBS will air "Gold Futures," a film by Hungary's Tibor Kocsis." May not be your
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Saturday, August 18, 2007 11:44 PM

Book Review: Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over

In principle, I agree with everything that the author advocates in Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over . Communication (and PowerPoint!) is about telling a story that resonates (see Book Review: Made to Stick ) not bombarding people with data, facts, and
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Thursday, August 16, 2007 10:40 AM

So, how do I set up an event?

Lauren from Essent wrote in today with some good questions (and legitimate complaints) 1. Can you please send me some kind of “steps to take” list for creating an event? I have been told many different things. Something that explains what needs to be
Posted by jerman of the board | 3 Comments
Monday, August 13, 2007 1:36 PM

Partners who Partner

I frequently get asked, "what are the characteristics of your top partners?" One of the answers is "a strong network of partners themselves." These are partners who understand that customers are looking for a full solution which includes software, hardware,
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Sunday, August 12, 2007 12:07 AM

Why Blog?

Many people don't understand blogs. Don't understand the phenomenon or the business value. Here's a post that claims that "Microsoft was saved b/c of blogging." Gerald Kanapathy's Blog: Successful Blogging
Posted by jerman of the board | 2 Comments
Wednesday, August 08, 2007 8:52 AM

Voicemail Experience...

Have you noticed that voicemail systems differ in the button you need to push to "bypass" a message? Sometimes it is a * or a # or a number... One thing that is frustrating is when you push one of those buttons and you guess wrong.... What if you began
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Wednesday, August 01, 2007 5:10 PM

Technological First...

I'm on the train and I connected my Vista laptop to my T-mobile Dash phone (Windows Mobile 6) via Bluetooth. Then, I shared the Internet connection from the phone so that I can email, surf the web, and post to the blog. Very cool!
Posted by jerman of the board | 2 Comments
Wednesday, August 01, 2007 5:01 PM

Book to Read: Paradox of Choice

I watched a 20 minute video of the author of Paradox of Choice (Barry Schwartz) giving a presentation at the TED conference and it was enough to convince me to get the book. The basic premise of the book is that TOO much choice leads to LESS satisfaction.
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Wednesday, August 01, 2007 4:58 PM

SBS Event Kit...Free

If you are in the small biz space, this may be worthwhile for you: Small Business Server Partner Event Kit Take your business presence to the next level with professional resources available FOR FREE from Microsoft!! Have you ever had a booth at a trade
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
 
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