Cloud, Virtual, Web 2.0, Social Media and its Impact on Business

 Social Media, Technology  No Responses »
Sep 292011
 
11,421 Views   


Cloud, Virtual, Web 2.0, Social Media and its Impact on Business

Two of my favorite subjects are technology and business. It was, of course, destiny that an article on this subject would transpire. The idea began with a keynote presentation that I gave to a room full of CFO’s and IT Directors. It just made sense to share with a larger audience.

Already Impacted?
Yes! Let’s look at a morning in the life of me…

First thing in the morning I virtually contact my global business connections through the use of Google Apps, Web 2.0, and Cloud Computing using social media. Some of these tools consist of LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and Facebook all of which have storage and applications on the cloud. I then finally check my Google analytics, which of course is on the cloud, to see how my articles are doing on my website which uses virtualization.

“50% out of the 500 CIO’s surveyed plan to use virtualization.”

As I start my commute a potential client calls my office VoIP/SIP phone and through presence, location based services, and virtualization connects instantaneously to my Android Smartphone which I now can answer a few last minute questions before arriving at the office. As I arrive at my office I seamlessly finish the call back on my office phone without any interruption. I then receive an efax, using the cloud, signed contract and the deal is closed.

As you can see new technology has a tremendous impact on how I do business and my guess yours is similar.

Toot Your Own Horn

 Sales  9 Responses »
Sep 292011
 
3,705 Views   


Toot Your Own Horn

Where does it say that it is wrong to be excited and announce your ideas and successes to all that will listen? Do you find yourself apologizing or finding ways to not discuss achievements? Why? Are you worried you might be thought lesser of or find the circumstance embarrassing? Have you found that others try to belittle your experiences… your ideas?

In my opinion not only should you learn to promote yourself but it is crucial to your life and business successes. I’m not talking about shoving your successes in someone’s face. Of course that is always wrong. I love it though when someone has stepped up and had a success or a brilliant idea and they want to yell from the mountain tops. That really pumps me up. I want to know all. What they did… how they did it. I am genuinely happy for them. Are you?

“Without promotion something terrible happens… Nothing!” – P.T. Barnum

We hear stories about the person that was in the right place at the right time. I am sure there are those that have had that happen and how great that would be. Reality typically is different with most successes being achieved through strategic hard work and self-promotion.

Fire Him? But He Just Had a Stroke!

 Management  5 Responses »
Sep 282011
 
4,734 Views   


Fire Him? But He Just Had a Stroke!

I have experienced, first hand, employer decisions in regards to further employment with stroke victim employees… more specifically managers. What a moral dilemma it was for both sides. Employer… What if your manager had one? How would you handle their continued employment?

Deception
I entered a national retail sales career path as a young enthusiastic “manager trainee”. I worked long hours, won all national contests, and even challenged the CEO as to why I wasn’t, 6 months later, an assistant manager yet! I hadn’t understood politics like “don’t go over the regional managers head to get promoted” but that’s another future article. What’s the old saying… watch what you wish for and I would add… watch your back.

The regional manager pulled me in and discussed the conversation I had had with the CEO. He then told me I would get my wish if I would transfer to another site. The site was Walla Walla Washington. So… I left my young family and went to Walla Walla. What he had not told me is that the manager of this retail store site was out on disability. He had suffered a debilitating stroke and while he looked/acted normal… he would have seizures.

Good Manager Bad Manager

 Management  2 Responses »
Sep 282011
 
3,866 Views   


Good Manager Bad Manager

I have worked with terrible managers and have worked with a few that were remarkable. Those that were remarkable brought out a work ethic and creativity superior to those that weren’t in every case. Long term relationships were built and loyalty attained. What made them different?

“The very essence of leadership has to do with meeting deep human needs on the part of followers. When these needs are met, the leader-follower connection is made and followers will walk the ninth mile for their leaders. When these needs are ignored… followers will do the minimum that is required or actually work against the goals of the leader.” – Mardy Grothe

Bad Managers
The number one complaint that employees have with upper managers is they “Don’t feel they care about them as a human being”. Think about that.

To be fair… there really isn’t a lot of training for a manager typically. They hand you a book to read and some reports to fill out and somehow magically you are expected to become a great manager. If you’re lucky they’ll provide some mentoring. This may not always be the best thing. You’ve been hired or promoted to get the sales production up and they’re offering a mentor that couldn’t get that done in the first place. It’s like the blind leading the blind many times. Let’s look at what affect a bad manager can have.

Get Around those SPAM filters

 Marketing  No Responses »
Sep 252011
 
2,523 Views   


Get Around those SPAM filters

After signing up for a couple of lead generation websites lo and behold leads started appearing in my inbox. I had read earlier on their site that I should make contact immediately through email and a phone call. I decided to build an email that would be like none other. I added my company’s history as well as mine. So far so good… but now the creative juices were starting to flow. I put a coupon in it and of course tweaking my signature for that lasting impression. Embed our BBB and my LinkedIn link with image buttons they could click on. I leaned back and was well pleased.

As instructed, I called the lead contacts and much to my surprise they had never received any correspondence from me. At first I thought, “Right buddy there’s no way you would have missed my masterpiece”. I even went so far as to put in the subject line, in bold, NOT JUNK MAIL. After a couple of these calls I soon realized they were indeed not getting the emails. A couple of them offered to check their filter and found them there. My follow-up marketing ploy had become spam. This, of course, would not do and I immediately went into research mode to find a better way to build emails. Let me share with you some of my new found knowledge.

“I’d rather send out a mass email then hang posters all over the place.” -Todd Barry

No Spam
The good news is there are better ways to format and distribute email. The bad news is I had pretty much broke every rule and thus my masterpiece became spam. In an effort to keep you from going through the pain I did I have listed some ways you can protect yourself. I would also suggest you “google” something like “trigger list filter email delete” as there are many opinions on this subject. Here we go…

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