Confused about the vast array of new social media sites? Do you understand social media marketing, but feel a little bit disorganized or have trouble understanding how to put it all together?
I found an excellent resource online, it's a PDF that you can print out...sort of a Digital Marketing 101 guide! It's a great read, even if you got Web 2.0 down to perfecto!
http://www.marketingpower.com/ResourceLibrary/Publications/MarketingNews/2009/43/7/Digital%20Handbook.pdf
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Consumer Confidence
LinkedIn Groups |
Consumer Confidence Highest In 8 Months ! |
How to Hire Super Staff!
Posted by Joy Gendusa at the Ask Joy Gendusa blog.
I have a really awesome team. I am told, literally daily, how terrific they all are. I am told by customers, vendors, and anyone that comes in contact with them. I have to say, I whole-heartedly agree. And business owners always want to know where I found them - how I found them. I am pretty good at it, actually. It is an innate ability I happen to have. But as we grew and I turned my hat over to others, I had to find a system for them to use to continue to hire great staff.
I have a really awesome team. I am told, literally daily, how terrific they all are. I am told by customers, vendors, and anyone that comes in contact with them. I have to say, I whole-heartedly agree. And business owners always want to know where I found them - how I found them. I am pretty good at it, actually. It is an innate ability I happen to have. But as we grew and I turned my hat over to others, I had to find a system for them to use to continue to hire great staff.
So, how do you choose good staff?...
How often have you thought to yourself, "If only I had better staff."
Not hiring the right person has cost business owners thousands of dollars in lost revenue, not to mention all the lost time that it took to train them.
A lot of time and effort and money can be spent on hiring employees only to have them leave or even have to fire them because they're not what you expected. Choosing the right people is by far one of the major problems in expanding and replacing yourself for certain functions.
One sure-fire method of solving this problem is to know more about your prospective employees BEFORE you hire them. And now, this is possible to do. I am not talking about background checks here - although that can be a useful tool, for sure.
We are now using a personnel test prior to even interviewing. Knowing more about a person BEFORE you hire them allows you to bring better staff on board. We never hire anyone here without using these tests!
So what are these tests and how do they work?
Instead of trying to convince you of the accuracy of these tests, the company I use is offering you a free demonstration. The owner happens to be a buddy of mine and he made this great offer to me for you:
His company will give you the test online, and then evaluate it free of charge so you can see for yourself how accurate it is.
There are NO strings attached to this offer. You take the test for free. If you're impressed, they'll let you know how you can use the tests to hire better staff.
Are you ready? Go to this web page: http://www.employeetestingcenter.com/video.html?q=mcp
There is a three-minute video that quickly explains the testing process. Below the video is a link where you can take the free test.
What would it be like to know that you have competent, honest, 100% trustworthy and dependable staff? Watch the video and take the test now to find out! They will be in touch with you shortly afterwards to go over the results.
Best,
Joy
Why Hiring the Right Staff is Key!
Posted by Joy Gendusa at the Ask Joy Gendusa blog.
I want to talk a bit further about my last newsletter regarding hiring the right staff. I went over this a few months back in another newsletter – how the right staff are so very important to your marketing efforts. I went over how good customer service is good marketing and superb customer interaction is superb marketing. Reversely, lousy customer interactions creates anti-marketing. I’m sure you can think with that. The other point I want to make is that right now, in this ridiculous economy with these crazy unemployment rates you have an opportunity. Really good people are not only looking for work, they are willing to start at lower pay. Now I’m not advocating that you get rid of your more expensive staff. Training and getting guys up to speed is costly. However, you can and should get rid of your weakest links and replace them with willing, smart, hard working, ethical individuals that will not only arrive on time but start early and leave late. They are out there in abundance right now and I implore you find them...
I want to talk a bit further about my last newsletter regarding hiring the right staff. I went over this a few months back in another newsletter – how the right staff are so very important to your marketing efforts. I went over how good customer service is good marketing and superb customer interaction is superb marketing. Reversely, lousy customer interactions creates anti-marketing. I’m sure you can think with that. The other point I want to make is that right now, in this ridiculous economy with these crazy unemployment rates you have an opportunity. Really good people are not only looking for work, they are willing to start at lower pay. Now I’m not advocating that you get rid of your more expensive staff. Training and getting guys up to speed is costly. However, you can and should get rid of your weakest links and replace them with willing, smart, hard working, ethical individuals that will not only arrive on time but start early and leave late. They are out there in abundance right now and I implore you find them...
We had an interesting thing occur here recently. We had a new post open up – not previously held by anyone. We hired someone that interviewed well and had some experience in the area. There were plus points but there were also red flags in the first couple of months. I don’t want to get too specific because I don’t want to give anyone a public black eye. We replaced this person. The new person does the job in half the time for 50% less pay. I am not exaggerating. This recent experience is making me take a deeper look at all the lower echelon positions at my company. The ones I personally have no idea about. I’m kind of on a rampage… it is not a disservice to pay lower wages right now when we all have to tighten our belts – it is a disservice to the rest of the team to allow slackers (even if they are trying hard and don’t realize they are slackers) to stay and drag down the profitability of the company. I’d rather have a job in a good company with benefits then no job at all if I were looking. And as an employer it is my responsibility to keep PostcardMania profitable enough to continue with benefits and keep my good people employed through this period. I’m sure this viewpoint may piss people off.
So, again, here, I recommend the free hiring test I recommended in my newsletter yesterday. Take it yourself to see its accuracy – you know yourself well enough I’m assuming! Then you can decide if you want to use it for hiring purposes. http://www.employeetestingcenter.com/video.html?q=mcp – there is a video at the link that describes it more…
Love,
Joy
Tough Stuff
Thoughts of a Young Gun...
Sales Strategies for Today's Young Professionals
This is a great blog to follow, btw!
Get Excited or GET OUT!
I am going to start off this post in a different way...
I will start by warning all of you, who are reading this, that this post may cause you a few sleepless nights! In this post I will challenge each of us to become more introspective toward our lives and our professions.
Now that I have addressed that...let's get started!
In my last post I made the comparison between fishing a sales. This post will take on a much greater topic!
A little over two years ago, as I was preparing for my final exams, I got a phone call from my Dad...
"Hey Bud"
- "What's goin on Dad?"
"Well I have good news and bad news for you"
- "Ok....go ahead"
"We I am in the hospital...but I am ok."
That morning, as my dad was getting ready to catch a flight, he started having severe chest pains. When my step mom asked if my Dad needed to go to the hospital my Dad gave her an overwhelming YES! For my dad to risk missing a flight to get checked out, she knew that something was seriously wrong! Being a nurse, she didn't take any chances and drove my dad to the emergency room immediately.
As they began performing some tests on my dad the nurse "attempted" to give my dad something for the pain. My dad quickly jumped in and said...
"If at all possible, I would like to avoid taking anything. I have a flight here in a bit and I really need to make it"
The nurse did not argue but she did return with the doctor...
"Mr. Jacobus...the nurse said you didn't want anything for the pain."
- "Well I have a flight here in a few hours and I would really like to catch it if I can"
"Mr. Jacobus...Sorry to be so blunt but you are not going home today! You are not going home tomorrow! You probably won't be going home this week! You have a bilateral pulmonary embolism!"
- "Is that serious?"
"Well Mr. Jacobus...IF you had made it to the airport....and IF you had made it on the airplane...I can GUARANTEE you would not have made it off!"
As I was hearing this story I began to realize...I was probably less than a couple of hours from losing my father, my mentor, and my best friend!
Over the next few days they treated him for his PE and eventually released him from the hospital. As my dad rested at home he received a phone call from one of our family members. It would be a call that would re-emphasize my dad's belief that "life is too short"...
"I just wanted to check in on you and make sure everything was going ok. Are you feeling better?"
- "I am. Just trying to heal up right now. I will probably be off my feet for a couple of days."
"Well Jim, I guess this is a pretty good sign that you need to slow down!"
- "Slow down?!?! I think it is a sign that I need to speed up! There are still a ton of things I want to accomplish and I was only a few hours away from never having that opportunity! I will never slow down...and do you know why? Because life is too short!"
That was turning point in my dad's life...and in mine! That day taught me a lot about life, work, and relationships.
A few months later my dad and my step mom started their marriage ministry and began pursuing many of the dreams they put off. It also drove me to ask myself, "What do you really want to do? What is that that you could not imagine NOT doing?
It was the ultimate awakening for me!
Jason...Why this topic? Why now?
Over the past few months a number of people have lost their jobs or taken pay cuts. While unfortunate, it reveals our true passion by removing money from the equation. It also allows us to ask ourselves...
Do I really enjoy what I am doing?
Is this really what I feel called to pursue?
If this was my last day, week, month, or year on Earth...would I want to spend that time in this office?
My guess is that there would be some of us that are right where we need to be. We wake up excited to go to work. We feel that we are leaving our mark on this globe and we couldn't imagine doing anything else.
But...
I would say that there are probably more individuals out there who dream about doing something else. We may have jumped into a job without any passion or lost it somewhere along the way. If this is you I encourage you to ask yourself a few questions...
If I hit the lottery tomorrow, would I stay where I am?
What would I do if money, power, recognition, and/or pride was not an issue?
What am I teaching my children by pursuing something that I am not passionate about?
3 Reasons We Should "Get Excited or GET OUT!"
1. Life is too short. One thing that is certain is that life is uncertain. We don't know how long we have so we must find something we love to do and give it everything we have!
2. We will never reach our potential if we are not passionate about what we do. Passion is what keeps us working and pushing when things get tough (ex this economy).
3. It is the greatest gift we could ever give our kids. I am not a parent but the greatest gift my parents have given me is to show me what a passionate professional can accomplish!
Are you passionate about what you are doing?
If you experienced what my dad experienced, how would that change your career path?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Using Your Voice
Good Morning! I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. May sure has flown right on by this month! We are approaching June, and the National Marketing Team has more fresh ideas and projects to accomplish. Your marketing requests have been great, and I am so happy to be creating marketing pieces that will help you connect better with clients and/or future clients. Our vision is getting bigger. Marketing pieces are great in that they add a personalized touch, setting us apart from many competitors.
However, now we must all begin taking greater strides towards marketing and branding ourselves. We plan on reaching millions of potential customers via the world wide web. How can we, as a team, create an online presence? The key to effective marketing via the world wide web is not to belong to as many social media sites as possible...of course, we want to belong to many...but there is a key step that we really need to focus in on to be successful.
That step is developing our (and your) voice. Here is a brief excerpt from a recent Business Week article I read,
Blogs are spreading faster than kudzu in the business world. Why? “Because, when done effectively, they are a great marketing, sales and public relations tool for corporations or entrepreneurs,” said Barbara Giamanco, CEO of Talent Builders Inc., which helps professionals attract business and increase sales by using social media strategies and tools.
“You know it works when you start getting calls from people you don’t know who want to work with you,” she said. Recently, Giamanco garnered a major corporate client. A friend had referred her, but before calling, he did an online search, and read her LinkedIn profile and her blog, which relates to her core competencies of sales, people development and social media technology. “He liked what I had to say, so before he even met me, I had made an impression as a professional with credibility and integrity,” Giamanco said.
Take a look at that again! The market place is full of hunters. They are "hunting" for the right people to do business with. Our leads, our customers, do their research. A recent study showed that nearly 97% of business owners conduct a Google Search before ever deciding to do business with a new company.
We must be cutting edge. To be cutting edge, we must engage the technology at our fingertips. Creating a presence means allowing your personality to shine through in your blog posts. Where are your strengths? Leadership? Innovative thinking? Persuasive sales techniques? Marketing guru? Blog about it.
When your leads or clients search for you on Google, what will they find? If you have several business related blog posts, imagine how thrilled they will be to see your useful business tips and tactics on our company's blog page. As Giamanco said, blogging will increase your personal credibility and integrity.
There is power at your fingertips! Have an idea? Blog. You don't have to be a seasoned author to write effective blog posts. It could be as simple as "5 Tips to Closing the Sale" or "3 Simple Recruiting Tools." Blogging is a great way to begin developing your voice! Let your voice be heard! It is huge, and it means something - to us, to your clients, and to your prospects...it even means something to people you don't even know...the "hunters" who are out there looking for the right company to choose.
As a team, let's really focus in on our blog. We need more voices, and I encourage you to post. We all look forward to "hearing" from you!
However, now we must all begin taking greater strides towards marketing and branding ourselves. We plan on reaching millions of potential customers via the world wide web. How can we, as a team, create an online presence? The key to effective marketing via the world wide web is not to belong to as many social media sites as possible...of course, we want to belong to many...but there is a key step that we really need to focus in on to be successful.
That step is developing our (and your) voice. Here is a brief excerpt from a recent Business Week article I read,
Blogs are spreading faster than kudzu in the business world. Why? “Because, when done effectively, they are a great marketing, sales and public relations tool for corporations or entrepreneurs,” said Barbara Giamanco, CEO of Talent Builders Inc., which helps professionals attract business and increase sales by using social media strategies and tools.
“You know it works when you start getting calls from people you don’t know who want to work with you,” she said. Recently, Giamanco garnered a major corporate client. A friend had referred her, but before calling, he did an online search, and read her LinkedIn profile and her blog, which relates to her core competencies of sales, people development and social media technology. “He liked what I had to say, so before he even met me, I had made an impression as a professional with credibility and integrity,” Giamanco said.
Take a look at that again! The market place is full of hunters. They are "hunting" for the right people to do business with. Our leads, our customers, do their research. A recent study showed that nearly 97% of business owners conduct a Google Search before ever deciding to do business with a new company.
We must be cutting edge. To be cutting edge, we must engage the technology at our fingertips. Creating a presence means allowing your personality to shine through in your blog posts. Where are your strengths? Leadership? Innovative thinking? Persuasive sales techniques? Marketing guru? Blog about it.
When your leads or clients search for you on Google, what will they find? If you have several business related blog posts, imagine how thrilled they will be to see your useful business tips and tactics on our company's blog page. As Giamanco said, blogging will increase your personal credibility and integrity.
There is power at your fingertips! Have an idea? Blog. You don't have to be a seasoned author to write effective blog posts. It could be as simple as "5 Tips to Closing the Sale" or "3 Simple Recruiting Tools." Blogging is a great way to begin developing your voice! Let your voice be heard! It is huge, and it means something - to us, to your clients, and to your prospects...it even means something to people you don't even know...the "hunters" who are out there looking for the right company to choose.
As a team, let's really focus in on our blog. We need more voices, and I encourage you to post. We all look forward to "hearing" from you!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Once again, amazing work team!
Congratulations to the DSS team. I can't tell you how happy I am to hear about all of your successes. I just received a message from Julie Pounds in regards to your accomplishments this month. You guys are off the map. I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but I can tell you that halfway through this period, we are at the same level we were at at the tail end of last period. That means, we are our way to another 100% increase in work orders this month. I'll keep you updated as to the exact numbers.
Patricia, Kay, Misti, and Delores - way to go!!!!!!! You are doing an amazing job! Keep up the great work team!
Here is the letter I received this morning from Julie...
"For a few weeks now, I've noticed that several commission reports have started edging down to the bottom of the page! So, each week I am anxious to watch them grow. Well! - I ran w/e 5/10 commissions this morning and BEHOLD - not only do we have 2 two-page reports (Delores Jones and Misti Kelley), but we have two more that are just a work order or two from hitting the two-page mark (Patricia Campa and Kay Jordan). I am so excited for these managers and sales consultants because we haven't seen any of these in 2009. I know everyone has been working very hard to get us where we're going and I really love to see them succeed!
So, maybe you can give a HATS OFF to these hard-working folk!"
And I surely will Julie, HATS OFF Diversified! I am so proud of your efforts, tenacity, and achievements. Please let me know how I can continue to support your continued success in the marketing department.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Patricia, Kay, Misti, and Delores - way to go!!!!!!! You are doing an amazing job! Keep up the great work team!
Here is the letter I received this morning from Julie...
"For a few weeks now, I've noticed that several commission reports have started edging down to the bottom of the page! So, each week I am anxious to watch them grow. Well! - I ran w/e 5/10 commissions this morning and BEHOLD - not only do we have 2 two-page reports (Delores Jones and Misti Kelley), but we have two more that are just a work order or two from hitting the two-page mark (Patricia Campa and Kay Jordan). I am so excited for these managers and sales consultants because we haven't seen any of these in 2009. I know everyone has been working very hard to get us where we're going and I really love to see them succeed!
So, maybe you can give a HATS OFF to these hard-working folk!"
And I surely will Julie, HATS OFF Diversified! I am so proud of your efforts, tenacity, and achievements. Please let me know how I can continue to support your continued success in the marketing department.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Hiring Young Gun Sales Pros
I might have posted this before, but I'm going to post it again. It is a great article and a MUST read. Click here.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
2 Simple Goals for Cold Calling Success
This article sets 2 simple yet effective goals you should use when telephone cold calling. Read it here.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Twitter But Were Afraid to Ask
Read it here. It's a very good article.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
From Order Taker To Gladiator ... How Top Sales Pros Are Winning the Sales Wars!
Find the link to the article on our Twitter page.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Good Article: Top 10 Factors for Getting Salespeople to Overachieve
This is a very good article by:
© Copyright 2007 Objective Management Group, Inc.
© Copyright 2007 Objective Management Group, Inc.
Posted by Dave Kurlan on Sun, Feb 04, 2007 @ 02:22 PM
You can find the link to it on the DSS Twitter page.
Note to all
Groupwise will be going permanently offline as of Friday, May 15th. If you haven't set up a google account yet, or downloaded google chat, please do so asap so we can all be on the same page.
Download:
http://www.google.com/talk/
Download:
http://www.google.com/talk/
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Volunteering for the St. Petersburg Free Clinic Food Drive
Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Sam, Cindy, and I helped to lend a helping hand to feed the hungry. We volunteered to work the St. Petersburg Free Clinic Food Bank, taking part in the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. For more information about the nationwide food drive, please visit this website http://www.helpstampouthunger.com
Here is a video that helps to illustrate the true breadth and reach that this food drive has on the United States.
We had a wonderful time. What an amazing experience.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Good morning!
From the responses I've seen on facebook this morning, it looks like quite a few of you are planning and excited for the webinar this afternoon. I definitely look forward to it and I think it's going to be a great learning experience for all of us!If you haven't registered yet, once again, here's the link. http://cms.linkedhr.com/freewebinar/linkedin
PLEASE send me your ideas for the next edition of ReSource. I would love to hear your stories, life events, maybe that "Dawn's Dirt" section that Renee mentioned ;)! Send me those ideas (by the latest) Tuesday, May 12th. Thanks so much.
PLEASE send me your ideas for the next edition of ReSource. I would love to hear your stories, life events, maybe that "Dawn's Dirt" section that Renee mentioned ;)! Send me those ideas (by the latest) Tuesday, May 12th. Thanks so much.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Linked:HR Webinar
Hey all! The marketing team will be attending LinkedIn Power User Strategies tomorrow from 4-5PM EDT. If you could make it and join with us, that would be wonderful!! Looking forward to "seeing" you there.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Amazing work
Everyone should be very, very excited. Since January, we have increased our work orders by 65% and new accounts by 100%!! Here is the break down:
Period 1: 18 new accounts, 20 work orders
Period 2: 22 new accounts, 19 work orders
Period 3: 27 new accounts, 19 work orders
Period 4: 36 new accounts, 33 work orders
Percentages:
Between Periods 1 & 2: 22% increase in new accounts, -0.5% decrease in work orders
Between Periods 2 & 3: 23% increase in new accounts, 0% work orders
Between Periods 3 & 4: 33% increase in new accounts, 74% increase in work orders
Our marketing campaign took place from April 20th-April 23rd. The month of April has been the biggest production month for work orders of the year thus far. Getting on the phones and getting into contact with our clients certainly paid off! We went from a baseline 0% to 74% in one month.
Let this energy motivate you and leverage new growth! The numbers are evidence of your hard work and relentless drive to achieve. Keep it up Diversified!
Power Business Expo in Miami!
Katrina, George, & Patricia had a very exciting story to share! By attending the Doral Chamber of Commerce's Power Business Expo, they helped to market Diversified to the community in a very personal, face-to-face way. Networking with people at Chamber events helps to generate BUZZ...something that I'm sure you are all noticing is happening to Diversified right now...we are getting some buzz, word of mouth recognition, and it's spreading. Keep up the good work Miami!
Thank you for sharing this story Katrina!
* * *
"George, Patricia and I attended the Doral Chamber of Commerce's Power Business Expo last night. We were the only staffing/HR company in attendance. We were one of 62 vendors and over 1000 people came to the event. We were able to get 30 solid leads from this. Most of our leads were in the hospitality or property management industries so the new marketing material was a great bonus to have. There were also a representative there from the Miami Heat, he said they are using staffing for ticket takers and ushers and are currently unhappy with the quality of people they are getting from their current provider.
Attending this event also opened door for other networking events where we have been invited to be part of a referral group as the first and only staffing company to the group. As well as another business showcase. Plus, George won an ipod shuffle.
Huge success and very positive news from everyone that we talked to. No doom and gloom of slow business."
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