In my previous post I was talking about having to listen to absurd and ineffective voicemails when calling others. I recently played several voicemail (VM) messages that I retrieved from my own voicemail system

The first VM was a garbled message from a prospective client interested in talking with me about our solutions. The message was probably recorded using his cell phone making it almost impossible to recognize the complete phone number. Luckily I was able to make sense of the company name and after a quick Google search, I found them on the web as I was able to match the web phone number with the incomplete phone number left on the voicemail. Since I return all calls within 24 hours (unless they are clearly telemarketer calls) I called his company. Their main message stated that they are closed for the holidays. I left a brief message, letting them know who I am and explaining that I am returning their call. I left my phone number and email address twice, and suggested my availability to connect. Finally, I made the recommendations that they check the calendar, as I believe the holidays are over by now. I figured if they don’t have a sense of humor, it would not be a good match anyways.

The second VM was from a company specializing in training and documentation. I was not sure if this was a sales call or an interested prospect so I called her back, got her on the phone yet she barely remembered who I was, This sure made me feel really special. She then immediately jumped into her sales pitch telling me how long they’ve been in business, the type of products they sell, the awards they won and more blah, blah, blah. I was waiting for a question or two but quickly lost my patience when she started her third paragraph. I stopped her and said: “Not Interested.” Meekly she replied: “oh ok” and hung up the phone.

The third VM was from a sales trainer who luckily left a clear phone number and company name. I found his company on the web (where would I be without my Google?) and I quickly realized what his main focus was. Unfortunately I was unable to find any clients’ testimonials on his site or whom he had a chance to work with. When returning his call he immediately gave me his value proposition (good but a bit too long) and told me that he works with technology companies JUST like mine although would not name any of them. And I was born yesterday, I thought to myself. He asked me if I read all the marketing material he sent me. I told him that I have no idea what he is talking about as they all end up in the garbage. He then suggested he would stop by my office to introduce himself so we can talk about my business and what projects I may have in the works. I quickly and politely explained to him that I have no need for his services and do not meet with people who cold call me. He realized that I was getting ready to hang up the phone when he said: “look for me, I will be famous one day.” I hung up the phone and thought to myself, dreams are one thing but illusion and desperation are another.

My favorite was a call I received today in my office. It went like this:
Him: Mr. Barr?
Me: Yes
Him: This is not a sales call.
Me: (silence, although thinking … yeah right)
Him: We are in your neighborhood tomorrow morning and would like to stop by and introduce ourselves.
Me: Not interested (click)

How many of such calls or voice mails do you get and is it possible that you or your staff are making such calls and leaving similar voice mails?

Let me share with you the type of voice mail messages that irritate me:

1. Today is Thursday, March 27. In the morning I will be out of the office visiting with a client and in the afternoon I am traveling to another client …


2. Please stop and listen carefully as these menu options may have changed …


3. This call may be monitored for quality control …

When I call and get a voice mail, I simply want to leave a brief message and in the fastest way possible. I know that since I got the voice mail this person is either out of the office, away from their desk or on another call. I do not need to be told the day it is – I have my own calendar, or what this person’s schedule is – I truly don’t care, or learn new menu options – I have other more interesting things to learn, or the fact that my voice may be recorded.

My favorite message would probably be: “I am out, leave a message now.” But since we all want to probably sound professional and polite, here is mine: “Hi, This is Chad at extension 112. Please leave your message and I will get back with you as soon as I can. Thank You.”

The only reason I record my extension is to make it easier for the caller to get a hold of me next time they call.

Since I am already on this topic, when leaving messages why not make them pithy and succinct?

Back on February 20, 2008, I reported the new and interesting www.alltop.com site released by author and innovator Guy Kawasaki. This site focuses on collecting stories from “all the top” sites on the web.

I am proud to announce that my blog made it into the social media category of this site. See screen capture below and click on image to enlarge:

Charge or retreat, it’s a matter of choice.  

I hear people complaining about the strength of the dollar weakening in comparison to other world currencies especially when the media is reaching for our attention with the stories and news of recession. So how do you leverage these economic challenges to benefit your company?

1. Expand your market – We get more inquiries and new business than ever before from place such as Canada, Europe, Australia, South Africa and Asia. I do not know if this is because of the exciting work we do and our marketing gravity, perhaps serendipity or the weak dollar. What is apparent to me is the fact that organizations and entrepreneurs outside the US are reaching out for help and expertise and a way to get better return from their own currency. Seize these opportunities, branch out and go global.


2. Help change your customers’ perception – In his blog entry Marketing in a recession, author Seth Godin writes about how in good times people buy because they feel they deserve it or just want it. Yet in tougher times they buy from a defensive position to avoid trouble or seize the opportunity. Change your marketing message to help your customers better understand why they need your products and services now.


3. Better use of technologies – Whether you are a large organization or a single entrepreneur, smartly using technologies enables you to deliver your expertise to your clients to help their business, build stronger relationships while allowing technologies to perform the work they should. So instead of receiving orders via phone, fax or a non-integrated web site and having to manually key them into your computer system, why not completely integrate them with your system through the Internet to automatically receive them in your warehouse or your receivable department? Instead of shipping hard copy books and CDs why not send them digitally as eBooks or an MP3 downloads. Instead of having to travel and visit your clients for meeting and training, why not use the Internet to conduct online live meetings and even archive them for future views?


4. Improve your web site – In his blog entry Progression in a recession, Dr. Alan Weiss talks about the importance of changing your web site to broadly describe your services and the importance of technology to reach out overseas prospects and partners.

Your web site and the Internet are both critical tools in helping you market your company, announce new products and services, deliver new offerings and reach global customers. So rather than listen to the negative news (how else would they get your attention) and act scared and indecisive, why not make a bold move, seize the great opportunities around you and make a positive difference for you and your customers’ success.

I was the guest speaker at Alan Weiss and Patricia Fripp marketing for speakers, consultants & coaches seminar- The Odd Couple, held in San Francisco on March 8, 2008. I spoke about “Leveraging your web site and the Internet to dramatically grow your business” to a terrific group of entrepreneurs.

Testimonial from Terry Schmidt of www.ManagementPro.com:

Testimonial from Lisa Broesch of www.inblissconsulting.com:

Testimonial from Don Yaeger of www.donyaeger.com:

Testimonial from Sara LaForest of LaForest Consulting:

Slides show presentation:

(to view the slides presentation in full screen mode, click on the “view” link above and then click on “full screen” on the bottom right)

Click here to download slides presentation. (pdf 23.22MB)

Click here to download article handout. (pdf 561kb)

Note: Video testimonials were taken with my Flip Video camera

I don’t get the thinking with web sites that incorporate the concept of “Under Construction” or “Coming Soon” pages. Some sites I visit incorporate these pages to attempt and let us know that these pages are going to be released soon. Some do that on their home page thus suggesting that the entire site will be launched soon. When I see such pages here is what crosses my mind:

1. You are wasting my time navigating your site, thus aggravating me.


2. You are telling me that you are unable to meet your own deadlines and finish your commitments.


3. Marketing your own company is not a priority for you.


4. The methods you and your Webmaster are using are amateurish.


5. There is a good chance these pages will never change.

Here are my recommendations:

1. Finish developing all the content necessary for all pages on your site and only then should you launch your site.


2. Eliminate all pages from your site that content is not ready yet.


3. If you can commit and guarantee that the pages or your entire site will be available on a certain date, it is ok to announce the following: “Thank you for visiting this page, please check back on xx/xx/xx when this page will be launched.”

The examples below not only illustrate my points above, but they also demonstrate business negligence. These pages have been there for over a year. I suggest they either take the page or site down or complete writing the content.

(click on images to enlarge):

Do you still use the phone book to find a company’s phone number? I personally forgot what one looks like and prefer to save the drawer space for other use. Instead, I rely on the Internet to get phone numbers when I need to contact a given organization. I find it irritating and surprising when companies make it a real challenge to be able to contact them. When I tried reaching AT&T the other day, there was no easy way for me to contact them from their home page. I had to spend the time navigating the site and aggravating myself before finding their phone number. Verizon makes it easier as they enabled the “Contact Us” link at the bottom left of the screen. Apple truly got it! They display the phone# as well as easy links to contact them.

How easy is it to contact you by phone or email or even get your address?

Take a look at the examples below or visit our web site for an effective example.

(click on images to enlarge):

Our latest newsletter is now available for publication. It features my article: Can you hear me now? Can you see me now? – Listen and watch your text come to life which focuses on leveraging podcasts in augment your text and marketing messages. It also features our guest contributor , Linda Popky, President of L2M Associates and her article: Planting the Seeds of Success: Why Marketing in a Down Time Helps Business Turn Up.

Enjoy,

Chad

When visiting web sites, how often do you click on a link which takes you to another site? Probably quite often you would answer since this is the basic foundation to how the world of the Internet works. But when clicking on that link, does the next page open in the same browser window or a new one?

Make sure your web master does the following: When developing the navigation for your site, all available links within your own site should open in the same browser window. Opening your own site in multiple browser windows is not only a poor design error but also irritating to the visitor. However, if you decide that you must link to other sites from your own web site, make sure you open up the link in a separate browser window while keeping your site open in the current window. This logic will enable the user to visit the new site, and when closing that window or tab they will be returned to your site which is still open. Otherwise, they are gone and probably will not be back.

Click here for an example of a hyperlink to another browser session and click here for an example of a hyperlink in the same browser window. (You will have to press the go back arrow to return to this page.)

I believe that we have more control of impacting our destiny and creating success than chance or luck has to do with it.

Here are three ideas that have been instrumental in impacting mine:

1. Opportunities are all around us, we just have to learn to pay better attention to them.


2. If you don’t ask the answer is always NO.


3. When serendipity takes place, I seize the opportunity to create additional serendipity.