Media Alert from Nielsen news - Top 10 Blogging Topics in May

Swine Flu was the most discussed topic in April 2009, according to Nielsen news. Bloggers were helping world by providing useful information related to this. In India itself, according to today’s news 31 infected patients/cases have been found so far. According to experts its cure will take at least 6 more months to come to India – though I am not sure it’s available any where else too.

Recently released Nielsen news shows that in the month of May, Swine Flu has been dropped to number 8 wherein Memorial Day and Star trek has taken the top position. Politics again is able to take position in this list – thanks for Barak Obama's desire to pass a new credit card reform law and his visits to different places.

Here is the list:
1. Memorial Day
2. Star Trek
3. Barack Obama
4. Dick Cheney
5. Notre Dame
6. Cinco de Mayo
7. Mobile Phones
8. Flu Virus
9. Sonia Sotomayor
10. Terminator Salvations

Selling Tips

Being into sales, I feel this is a hard time for sales persons to convince our potential customers. Recession, bad economy has given us a solid challenge and we are trying hard to reach our targets. Companies are looking for magic cure so as they can increase their sales. However, since there is no magic cure available (As far as I know) I believe (based on my search) that there are few steps if we follow can have a positive impact on our sales efforts.

1) Fill the sales pipeline: I have seen and met many sales persons who experience tremendous peaks and valleys in their sales because they do not consistently prospect for new business, may be they are busy in servicing existing client or any other reason. They neglect to prospect because it is the least enjoyable aspect of their job but when the sales drop or business with their current clients ends, they scramble to generate new business. If we invest time in filling our pipeline on a regular basis, we will seldom have to worry about reaching our targets.

2) Ask high-quality and relevant questions: I believe that majority of sales people (even seasoned pros) fail to ask their prospects and customers high-quality questions. This can only happen if either they are not trained about the product/service they are selling or they think that they do it. Unfortunately, this leads to mis-pitch the product, service or solution which causes the prospect to raise more objections.

3) Have patient Ears: I believe that the best listeners are best sale people. If we invest time asking great questions it is critical to listen to what the other person tells us. Many things can get in our way and prevent us from accurately hearing what has been said. The best approach would be to summarize your conversation at the end of discussion and share that with prospect to check the accuracy of your summary.

4) Focus on presentation: In sales, presentation is only focused on customer, his needs and the solution you can provide. It's not about us, our company or our product. I have seen that virtually every sales presentation starts with talks about company, stats about how long they have been in business, who they have as clients, etc. In fact I in the start of my career my approach was the same. However the correct approach is to prepare a presentation in way that it meets the specific needs of each individual customer.

5) Challenge to build Trust: I personally believe that if people don't trust us chances are they won't buy from us. We all know that our prospects are inundated with calls and emails from other people like us who are trying to sell them something and tell several stories. Due to large number of these calls, decision-makers are getting more reluctant to trust someone they don't know. That means we need to demonstrate exactly why a prospect should trust us. We have to show them our worth in a professional manner, treating them with respect and dignity and respecting their time.

6) Show value: The best way to demonstrate value is to show exactly how our solution will benefit our prospects. However this doesn’t mean talking at great length about it or telling prospects everything there exist about our products or services. This means discussing the aspects of your solution that are most relevant to each customer or prospect in a simple way.

7) Value your own Words: My personal experience has taught me that sales people frequently fail to follow their commitments. To make a sale, they commit something which they can’t deliver and this leads to quick loss of trust and lack of respect.

8) Time to Stop: I have seen sales people who continue following a lead even when it is clear that a sale will not happen. This usually happens when pipeline is not active with prospects or they are new into sales or have tremendous pressure to achieve the targets. I feel that, If we know we have done everything we can to move the sales process forward, we should take a break and think whether it is the best use of our time to keep trying to make it happen or just to let it go.

There must me many other things which I have missed here and hence would request you to share your thoughts based on your experience.

Tweet Etiquette...

I have recently joined twitter and honestly I just loved it. In process of understanding more, I came across this article on Tweet Etiquette’s from Joel Comm, co-author of Twitter Power. I found it useful and thought to share it with you all.

Every conversation has rules. We know not to interrupt someone when they're talking. We know not to use bad language when we talk. We know not to talk too loudly.

And we know too how and when to break all of the rules.

Exactly the same is true for a Twitter conversation. The site hasn't been around for long, but Twitterers have already tried to figure out something like Twittering etiquette.

Some of those etiquette rules are smart, sensible, and should always be followed. Others are smart, sensible, and should usually be followed.

While it's important to know the rules, it's just as important then to know when to break them -- and what happens when you do.

1. Don't spam: This is one rule you can't break. Spammers don't survive long on Twitter. They don't build followers. Any followers they do get don't read their tweets and the number of conversions they can generate will be so tiny that as a marketing method, you'd probably be better off printing a thousand flyers, folding them into paper airplanes and tossing them out of your office window.

2. Follow style rules: Twitter's founders may have had mobile phones in mind when they designed the service, and plenty of users may be typing their updates from their handheld devices, but Twitter isn't exactly the same as SMS messaging.

That means the language needs to look more like real words than the usual SMS-style abbreviations.

3. Give credit for retweets: One of the things that makes Twitter such a powerful tool is the fact that information placed on the site can quickly go viral. When one person spots a good tweet, they can pass that message on to their own followers, and soon it's spreading right across the Twitterverse and beyond.

For a marketer, that's like hitting the jackpot.

On Twitter, it's done by retweeting: Twitterers can simply copy someone else's tweet and tweet it themselves . . . but they must give credit to the original Twitterer. The format for retweets, then, looks like this: "Retweet @username: original tweet."

4. Stick to 140 characters: You have to stick to 140 characters, right? That's all they give you, and they do it for a good reason. Being starved of space stops you waffling and sparks your creativity. It's what Twitter is all about.

Twitter gives you 140 characters because that's all that can fit through SMS systems. If mobile phone companies could handle messages of 200 characters, then that's probably how long our tweets would be.

5. Follow people who follow you: How many people you should follow on Twitter can always make for a great discussion point. Follow thousands of people and you're not going to be able to read all of their tweets. Inevitably, you'll miss tweets you'd really like to read, and you'll look like someone who has lots of acquaintances but no real friends.
In practice, it doesn't always work this way. I follow more than 1,700 people. That's a lot less than the 4,500 or so who follow me, and while I know I'm missing tweets, I love the fact that when I look at my Twitter page I can see a huge variety of different conversations taking place.

Spend any time on Twitter and you're going to come across plenty of other rules too. Some purists, for example, argue that your tweets should only describe what you're doing, not what you're thinking or planning to do. I think that's far too restrictive: if it sparks a conversation and entertains your followers, it's a fair topic. If they don't like it, they should read someone else's tweets.

And that's really the ultimate test of tweet etiquette: how other people react and how you would react to the same kind of thing.


I personally feel that this article has covered many things related to etiquette of using twitter. In simple words, if we are building followers and they're responding to what we are writing, we are following the right rules.

Anger Management

When you occasionally have a really bad day, and you just need to take it out on someone, don’t take it out on someone you know, take it out on someone you don’t know.

I was sitting at my desk when I remembered a phone call I’d forgotten to make. I found the number and dialed it. A man answered, saying “Hello.”

I politely said, “This is Chris. Could I please speak with Robyn Carter?”

Suddenly a manic voice yelled out in my ear, “Get the right f***in number!”…and the phone was slammed down on me.

I couldn’t believe that anyone could be so rude. When I tracked down Robyn’s correct number to call her. I found that I had accidentally transposed the last two digits.

After hanging up with her, I decided to call the ‘wrong’ number again.

When the same guy answered the phone, I yelled, “You’re an asshole!” and hung up. I wrote his number down with the word ‘asshole’ next to it, and put it in my desk drawer.

Every couple of weeks, when I was paying bills or had a really bad day, I’d call him up and yell, “You’re an asshole!”

It always cheered me up.

When Caller ID was introduced, I thought my therapeutic “asshole calling” would have to stop.

So, I called his number saying, “Hi, this is John Smith from Verizon. I’m calling to see if you’re familiar our Caller ID program?”

He yelled, “NO!” and slammed the phone.

I quickly called him back and said, “That’s because you’re an asshole!”

One day I was at the store, getting ready to pull into a parking spot. Some guy in a black BMW cut me off and pulled into the spot I had patiently waited for, I hit the horn and yelled that I had been waiting for that spot, but the idiot ignored me. I noticed a “For Sale” sign in the back window which included his number, so I wrote down the number.

A couple of days later, right after calling the first ass hole (I had his number on speed dial) I thought that I’d better call the BMW asshole, too. I said, “Is this the man with the black BMW for sale?”

“Yes, it is,” he said.

“Can you tell me where I can see it?” I asked.

“Yes, I live at 34 Mowbray Blvd., in Vaucluse. It’s a yellow house, and the car’s parked right out front.”

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“My name is Don Hansen,” he said.

“When’s a good time to catch you, Don?”

“I’m home every evening after five.”

“Listen, Don, can I tell you something?”

“Yes.”

“Don, you’re an asshole!” Then I hung up and added him to my speed dial, too.

Now, when I had a problem, I had two assholes to call. Then I came up with an idea. I called Asshole #1.

“Hello.”

‘You’re an asshole!” (But I didn’t hang up.)

“Are you still there?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Stop calling me,” he screamed.

“Make me,” I said.

"Who are you?” he asked.

“My name is Don Hansen.”

“Yeah? Where do you live?”

“Asshole, I live at, 34 Mowbray Blvd., in Vaucluse, a yellow house, with my black Beamer parked in front.”

He said, “I’m coming over right now, Don, and you had better start saying your prayers.”I said, “Yeah, like I’m really scared, asshole,” and hung up.

Then I called Asshole #2, “Hello,” he said.

“Hello, asshole,” I said.

He yelled, “If I ever find out who you are…”

“You’ll what?” I said.

“I’ll kick your ass,” he exclaimed.

I answered, “Well, asshole, here’s your chance. I’m coming over right now.”

Then I hung up and immediately called the police, saying that I lived at 34 Mowbray lvd, Vaucluse, and that I was on my way over to kill my gay lover. Then I called Channel 9 News about the gang war going down in, Mowbray Blvd, Vaucluse.

I quickly got into my car and headed over to Mowbray. I got there just in time to watch two assholes beating the crap out of each other in front of six cop cars, an overhead police helicopter and a news crew.

NOW, I feel much better :)

Most Aggravating Email campaign Faux pas...!!!

Economy is going down – requirements are on freeze and no proper response from our prospects – which shows that its time to think a bit about our basic strategies, here I have picked Email campaigns.

Most important part during this campaign is to get response from our prospects/ clients? There are peoples with whom we need to communicate on a regular basis that not only don’t answer our emails, but also are seldom available to take our phone calls?

Before we chalk up the lack of communication to other people’s bad work habits or rudeness, it would be wise to take a close look at our own communication style. It’s possible that those who never seem to answer our emails or take our phone calls aren’t careless, forgetful, or rude. They may be just trying to avoid us.

Why?

If we don’t have an ongoing personal disagreement with someone and they aren’t trying to hide from us because they owe us work or money, the problem could be the way we communicate in email. You see, the effect of what we say in email often looks and “sounds” different to the recipient than it would if we were talking to them in person. If the email messages we send seem condescending, petty, picky, or needlessly complicated, we’ll find it increasingly difficult to get responses in a timely fashion.

Here are some of the most aggravating email faux pas to avoid.

Marking emails we send out with an exclamation point to indicate high importance for routine matters: Yes, we want people to read email we send, and yes we think the matter is important. But marking everything as high importance is going to have the opposite effect. Those who frequently receive email from us marked with an exclamation point will start ignoring it – and be mad at us for sending so many emails marked high importance.

Demanding immediate response when it’s not warranted: Just because something is important to us doesn’t mean that others should drop what they’re doing to answer our question or do what we want done. They have their own priorities, too. Not only will they get mad at us, but if requests aren’t truly urgent, they’ll soon be ignored – just like the fabled boy who cried “Wolf!” too often. So, if the matter we are discussing in email isn’t truly urgent (i.e., no one is going to suffer any harm or damage if whatever we want done isn’t handled the same day), then don’t ask for immediate action. And, if something really does need to be handled right away, explain why. (And remember to say “Please” and “Thank You”.)

Responding to someone else with a one-liner without including important details: “Call me,” or “We need to change the date” may work when we’re talking live with someone about a project. But if that’s all we put in an email, the recipient may need to dig through a stack of other email to find out why we wanted them to call us or what project or event needed a date change.

Including too much detail: Consider an example – If we need a manufacturer to do a better job of packaging the inventory products someone shipped us. Unless we’re a Big Box Store, don’t send the manufacturer a long note telling them what kind of packaging tape to use, how many times to reinforce it, and what grade shipping cartons to use. Instead, politely remind them to package the products securely so they don’t get damaged in shipment. If we’ve had a telephone conversation to discuss the problem, mention it briefly (if this is the first shipment since the call), but don’t rehash the entire phone call. And don’t forget the “Please” and “Thank You.”

Similarly, if we send a team member an email request to pull together a report on the team progress or do some other task, tell them what we want done and when we need it by. Don’t include a lot of detail about why it’s important to do the task or how we expect them to pay attention to all the details and format the report the way they were taught. If it’s a task they know how to do, state the task and the deadline in a sentence or two. (And don’t forget to say “Please” and “Thanks.”)

Copying the boss -- especially when the issue is minor: If you and a team member or anyone else you have to interact with has a minor difference of opinion, work it out between the two of you without copying the boss on your emails. If you see someone has made an insignificant mistake and wants it corrected, contact the person privately with a friendly note and don’t copy the boss.

Remember, copying the boss makes you look like a tattletale. And no one loves a tattletale -- or wants to return a tattletale’s email messages.

Changing the subject line when replying to an email: A lot of people use the subject line of emails to determine if and when to open and read the mail. If you and one or more other people are having an ongoing conversation about a project, and the subject doesn’t change, don’t change the subject line in the email. The people you want to read your response, may miss it, or may not be able to find it in the future to refer to it if you change the subject line.

Not changing the subject line for new topics of discussion: You and James have been discussing the best way to set up your podcast. All the messages have the same subject line. But while you’re reading James last response, you remember that you wanted to ask him to find a commercial artist who can design a flier for your next seminar. Don’t hit reply (to the podcast emails) to tell James to find the artist. Start a new email with a new subject line and send that to James so he can keep the issues separate in his email.

Must Read - 'Sex in the Boardroom'

Recently I got in touch with Merydith Willoughby – an award winning International Organization Development Consultant with more than 20 years of experience. This happened during my search for experts who can share their experience with me on leadership and assist me to understand leadership and ways to create difference.

During our course of discussions I came to learn about her new book which she has recently written called 'Sex in the Boardroom'. The book focuses on development of leadership qualities and provides key strategies to enable organizations to thrive in this economic environment.

I didn't have a chance to read whole book, but I liked its synopsis. I strongly feel that it's worth reading, keeping this in mind, I am sharing the synopsis with you, have a look and enjoy reading.

Synopsis:

Numerous books are written each year about the theoretical perspectives of leadership development yet few, provide readers with key techniques, strategies to use or key questions to help them move out of the ‘don't know what to do stage' to being powerful leaders in their own right. One without the other is not useful and many books just end up on the bookshelf collecting dust. Being a powerful leader doesn't just happen. It requires a lot of hard work, is time consuming and although some may have a natural tendency towards it, every leader has to continue to strive for excellence. Sex in the Boardroom has a systems approach to leadership development and it can be used as a tool to review what you are doing, to make minor changes or to make radical changes in the way you lead. You can learn how to focus on what will give you the most gain for your organization instead of focusing on peripheral issues that just take a lot of time away from what you really should be doing. It's a bit naughty in parts: there are cartoons in it, powerful insights and case studies. The book is a truly global leadership book and represents a number of countries. And whilst Sex in the Boardroom isn’t about work/life balance this is exactly what those in business are getting when they work with the process.

Some organizations realize they have to put the time and effort into developing their leaders because the so-called level playing field has either gone or taken a beating with the increased competitiveness of the global market. Most organizations don't provide their leaders with enough if any development because they just expect them to know what to do. What development they do provide is usually 'training' because they don't know what else to look for or what else actually works. Training provides knowledge and gives participants information but it does not provide them with the strategies, guidance or support to change what is not working well in the workplace. Training also doesn't ask them the 'tough' questions that elicit insights. Sex in the Boardroom does.

Go to www.ibcoaching.com.au for more information or to purchase a copy of the book.

Do share your comments on this!

Love of a Little boy...!!

I was walking around in a Target store, when I saw a Cashier hand this little boy some money back.

The boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old.

The Cashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll.

Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him: ''Granny, are you sure I don't have enough money?''

The old lady replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy this doll, my dear.''

Then she asked him to stay there for just 5 minutes while she went to look around. She left quickly. The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand.

Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to…

'It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for Christmas…

She was sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her.

I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus would bring it to her after all, and not to worry.

But he replied to me sadly. 'No, Santa Claus can't bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.'

His eyes were so sad while saying this. 'My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.''

My heart nearly stopped.

The little boy looked up at me and said: 'I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall.'

Then he showed me a very nice photo of himself. He was laughing. He then told me 'I want mommy to take my picture with her so she won't forget me.'

'I love my mommy and I wish she didn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister.'

Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly.

I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. 'Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll!''

'OK' he said, 'I hope I do have enough.' I added some of my money to his without him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.

The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!'

Then he looked at me and added, 'I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give it to my sister. He heard me!''

'I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose.''

'My mommy loves white roses.'

A few minutes later, the old lady returned and I left with my basket. I finished my shopping in a totally different state of mind from when I started.

I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Then I remembered a local news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma.

Was this the family of the little boy?

Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away.

I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was for people to see and make last wishes before her burial.

She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest.

I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever.. The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine.

And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno: 'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, 'Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

I am touched with this – and thought to share with you all – I believe that the value of a man or woman resides in what he or she gives, not in what they are capable of receiving = Give it a thought!