Advice: Finding your virtual salesman
This month is a weird topic, but stick with me: the challenge to you as a business owner is to find yourself a virtual salesperson. Let me explain. A *virtual* salesman is a person who is not employed by your business whatsoever, but has a vested interest in actively telling others about your business, your products, and the wonderful service you provide. The trick is in finding them.
Advice: MyTwitBook – a parent’s guide to social media – Part Two
Last month, I outlined what social media is, and began to give you, the parent, a quick primer on some of the big players (if you can’t get a hold of last month’s Bellarines Best, just head to rebusiness.com.au for a quick recap). We covered SMSs, MySpace and the wonderful world of Blogging, but we saved the best till last…
Advice: MyTwitBook – a parent’s guide to social media – Part One
Part One: Baby-boomers, Gen Y, Gen X, Gen *whatever* – one thing I know for sure is that the generations are slowly becoming separated by the tyranny of new technology – more so by the pace at which new technology evolves. For parents, the issue is two-fold: 1) where are my children going on the internet? and 2) what harm/good my children be able to do?
Advice: Psst… what’s the password?
Passwords, PIN numbers and security access codes – they seem like the bane of 21st century living. It’s so easy to forget which combination goes with which web site or with which credit card. Remembering passwords is almost a skill in itself. But with more and more of our lives going online, the first and foremost line of defence against unwanted intruders is the strength of our passwords.
Advice: Bowing to a higher authority
I’d suggest that as an individual, we don’t need to be able to amass 100% of the skills we need all by ourselves – in fact, we simply can’t – and that apart from the odd moments of epiphany, we gain our skills and experience by absorbing information from other rich sources – our own stable of mentors. So – who are my own ‘rich sources’ of pure gold? Who are my mentors? Let me introduce you to a couple…
Advice: So, what do you do?
Just like the bad pick-up lines from days gone by (shudder), your opening line to a prospective customer can sometimes be a make-or-break thing: it’s the first opportunity you have to get across what you do with a bit of passion, and a bit of flair. This first contact is often called the ‘elevator pitch’ – if you only have 30 seconds to explain your business to someone you’ve never met, how would you do it? All it takes is a little navel-gazing, a little pre-planning, and some guinea-pigs to practice it on… Ready? Let’s take a quick look!
Advice: How to turn web visitors into web customers
In 1943, Abraham Maslow proposed his “hierarchy of needs” – food, safety, love, respect & acceptance – a series of 5 levels that were the building blocks for every human’s existence. In 2009, I’m proposing a new set of 5 ‘needs’ to be able to turn a web visitor into a customer.
Advice: The ‘one percenters’ – a list of small things every business should/shouldn’t do
If the world of business was able to borrow just one phrase from the world of AFL Football, then I’d hope it was the concept of the ‘one percenters’ – the idea that it’s all the little tiny things that players do that win the game for their team. Get enough ‘one percenters’ going your [...]
Folio: ‘Digital guru’ interview in ProPhoto magazine
I’m happy to say that I’ve just been featured in the latest edition of ProPhoto magazine (Australia), in their recurring section profiling ‘digital gurus’. Quite an honour! This is the first of a two-part story outlining my approach to my career, as well as the history of how I got into photography as a teenager.
Advice: Twitter 101: A primer…
So… what is Twitter? Ah, the multi-million dollar question… Perhaps it’s easier to answer what Twitter is *not*, first:
• Twitter is not exactly like a chat program (MSN, iChat, Skype, etc), but it does let you communicate back and forth with friends
• Twitter is not exactly like sending an SMS from your phone, but it does let you broadcast news and other messages to many people
• Twitter is not exactly like a blog, although it does let you get to know people over time
• Twitter is not exactly like Facebook, although it does let you find people and see what they’re up to
• Twitter is not just a fad – it fills the otherwise empty niche of ‘real-time written communication’ – although it seems to be the mainstream media’s darling this year!
What Twitter *is*, is a free system of writing messages of no more than 140 characters, so that anyone in the world who is also on Twitter can *follow* you, and thereby follow the stream of messages you’re writing.