Davinci Virtual

In the technology driven world we live, and work, in, it is easy to get swept up with the tide, and rely on modern technologies for interpersonal communication between colleagues.  Email, social networking sites, instant messaging, and SMS (text) messages, now rule business communications, due to their efficiency and availability of use.  You can now communicate with anyone, anywhere, as long as you have a strong phone or internet signal.  Unfortunately, one of the downsides to this technological revolution, is the decrease in 1 to 1, personal communication.

Gone are the days of walking two offices down to ask about last week’s report.  Now, businessmen and women are sending an instant message on their computers, or shooting off a quick email, and as a result, missing out of that 30 seconds of relationship building that occurs during a personal conversation.

Now don’t get me wrong, utilizing updated technologies to improve inter-office efficiency is a great tool for businesses, but the key is remembering that on the other end of that email or SMS message there is another person, who is communicating back to you.  Here are some tips for optimizing technologies for communication, while not forgetting about building the personal relationships one needs in the business environment.

Use proper email etiquette. By using email (and other messaging technologies) properly, you can convey a professional image for both yourself and your company.  Keep your emails concise and professional; avoid the usage of phrases like “lol” or  “TTYL,” as well as though fun little emoticons…  ☺

Send emails or technological messages when you need to track responses or provide a data trail for future use, but use your legs when you can. One of the best (and worst) things about communicating via technology is the ability to track and store messages & responses.  Use these new technologies when you think you need to keep a virtual paper trail, but if no trail is needed, pick up a phone or walk down the hallway to communicate.

Ask how your colleagues & business partners how they would like to be communicated with.  I had an old manager who loved to be updated via text message, but wouldn’t read emails fro days at a time.  Until I had a conversation with him on how he preferred to be communicated to, I was sending him emails that ended up lost in his inbox.

Hopefully these tips will help you manage the balance of technology and interpersonal communication for your business.  Do you have other tips to share?  I would love to hear them.

Brand monitoring has become an essential task for any individual or corporation. Marketers must understand that conversations are being held on the web with or without our consent, and when conversations start on the web, like a forest fire, they travel very fast and wreak havoc along the way; what might start out as a mere tweet, may turn into a blog post and potentially national news. Yesterday I told you about how to effectively listen to your audience.  Read on to learn how to properly respond.

Talking Back
Once you have set up an effective monitoring plan, and you have listened to what the community is saying, it is time to talk back.  Here are some guidelines for communicating with online users about your brand.

• Respond quickly to criticism.  If you don’t respond quickly to criticism, you can lose control of the conversation.
• Admit your mistakes. Why is this so difficult for brands? When you mess up, the only—and I mean ONLY—acceptable response is to take full ownership, explain what went wrong, and share your action plan for fixing the mistake.
• Empower your employees to become problem solvers. As a customer, there is nothing worse than having a full-on collision with bureaucracy. We’ve all been there. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I’ll have to check with my supervisor.” Or worse, “I’d like to help, but we have a policy against that.” Tim Ferriss, author of the bestseller, “The 4-Hour Workweek”, tells his employees and contractors, “Keep the customers happy. If it is a problem that takes less than $100 to fix, use your judgment and fix the problem yourself. This is official written permission and a request to fix all problems that cost under $100 without contacting me (p. 105).”
• Exceed your customers’ expectations. Every customer problem is an opportunity to create a new amazing experience. But it’s not enough to meet their expectations, you have to exceed them. Anything less is merely restitution.

Conclusions
Understanding brand monitoring and its impact on your business is critical. Static websites are no longer the pinnacle of communication, as today’s consumer seeks engagement and two-way conversations.  As consumers are increasingly empowered to take control of brands online through user generated content, blogs, forums etc, marketers must adopt new ways of approaching brand management and marketing their products/services.

With the economy in turmoil, and an increasing number of corporations cutting back, the unemployment rate keeps on rising.  Do you have a plan in place should the cutbacks affect you?  The reality is, one of people’s biggest problems today, is that they are saving less and less, leaving many vulnerable and economically unprepared.

The first step in becoming economically sound, is to start saving NOW.  If you do not have a minimum of three month’s living expenses stocked away into savings account, this is where you need to begin.  There are many different ways to start to save, here are a few tips to help you begin:

1.) Every month, separate your income into three categories: Expenses, Paying off debt, and Savings.  Once your expenses are paid, spend 40% of the remaining income on paying off your credit cards and other debt, and place the remaining 60% in to a savings account.

2.) Once your credit cards are payed down, stop using them!  Pay with cash, check or debit card to keep the interest monster at bay.

3.) Save money while you are with your friends by changing that night out on the town, to a fun night in, where everyone brings something to share.

4.) Have your paycheck automatically pull out a percentage for your 401k.

5.) When making large purchases, research the options thoroughly to seek out the best price.

6.) Get out there and network!  Building your own network has obvious career benefits, so don’t let opportunity pass you by, get your name out there.

Hopefully these tips will help you to start to save your way to a successful future.

Type your name into Google and see what happens.  If you have multiple forms of informative content about you appearing in the top ten, congratulations, you are pretty well branded.  If your results are slim, however, you have some work to do to increase the power of your name.  Large corporations understand the power of a name, but now, we are in an “Age of the Individual,” where your name is your brand, and the power of your brand determines your success.

There are many great ways to increase your individual brand power, and here are a few tips to get you started.

• Start a blog.  Become a thought leader in your industry, by starting a blog and writing about relevant new technologies, or business techniques.  The key to this method, is understanding what your audience (or potential audience) wants to read and learn about.  Tip: Don’t be afraid to get a little controversial.
• Join a Social Networking website, and use your name as your login.  My LinkedIn profile is www.linkedin.com/in/laurencandito, and as a result, when I google my name, my LinkedIn profile is the first result on the page.  What is better that having your personal resume networking page at the top of the search results, pushing people to your expertise?
• Get your name out there.  Post to forums, comment on other people’s blogs, spark conversations with colleagues across the Internet.  Keep your commentary intelligent and meaningful, and push users back to your personal websites (i.e. blog, social networking sites, etc).  Always remember, communication is critical.  The key to developing a personal brand is engagement.  You must spark conversations with other people to be successful.

By following these tips, you can successfully develop your own personal brand and differentiate yourself from your competitors.  In today’s global society, your name is everything, manage it well and you will find success.  Get lost in the shuffle, and you may end up struggling to keep your head above water.

One of the most important lessons a small business owner has to learn, is when it is time to “fire” a client/customer.  Firing a problematic client can seem like a fantastical and frightful notion for the small-business owner, but it might be the best strategic move you can make. Few things damage the long-term vibrancy of your business more than an unproductive client relationship. Remember, sometimes the client-partner relationship just doesn’t work. Or maybe the effort to keep a client happy isn’t worth it.

One easy way to evaluate the relationship you have with your clients is to grade them periodically. To do this, set up a client scorecard with of key valuation metrics–such as the number of services provided, fee potential, ability to offer referrals and even loyalty. Once the scorecard is complete, weight each category according to its importance in your organization.

For businesses that think they may need to fire a client, but just aren’t sure, here are some clues that that it is time to let them go:

• You are no longer growing professionally from the client’s work.
• Your main point of contact client has disengaged from your company/project, leaving decisions to others in the company, placing the project at a lower priority than before.
• It is becomming incteasingly difficult to get a meeting with your key client sponsor
• Your project profit margin is declining steadily
• The client fights paying your invoices or their payments are consistently late.

Disengaging from a client relationship is easier said than done, though, so expect it to take some time and courage. It’s difficult to fire a client, but you’ll likely replace that client with one or more projects that stretch you professionally, make positive changes in your new client’s business, and boost your profitability.

Lastly, to prevent this problem in the future, read my post on diversifying your client portfolio, it will help you understand where your clients rank for your business.

As the end of the year draws closer, I find myself preparing for 2009 (getting organized, cleaning up my files, setting all my travel dates and accommodations for the first quarter of next year, etc.)  What I am realizing, is that I am going to be on the road quite a bit from January to March, visiting clients and speaking at various conferences and events.  I am going to running non-stop for three months, and one of the problems this causes is I will be struggling to not fall behind in my basic business admin duties (i.e. payroll, taxes, benefits or insurance, paying bills, etc).

To solve this problem, I am contemplating hiring on a “Virtual” Assistant to help manage my administrative load.  A Virtual assistant is just what the name applies, they assist small businesses by offering many of the administrative services of a larger company, including:

• Creative services
• Managerial services
• Technical services
• Business services
• Office/Administrative services
• Personal support services

One of the things that I find the most helpful, is that by using a virtual assistant, I can provide their services to my clients anywhere in the world.  It can really come in handy!

Have you ever used a virtual assistant?  Share your success stories by sending me a comment!