Spring has arrived in all its glory. The birds are out and sunshine and golf are on the horizon. April and May will see EMBA giving several presentations of its popular "High Impact Marketing On A Shoestring" program. Our Access USA division will be working with the government of Nova Scotia on bringing a trade mission to Chicago in June. Several new clients have been added both in our marketing auditview and SalesPlus areas. Our team has expanded broadening our capabilities and giving us the ability to better serve our clients. All-in-all, spring is looking GREAT!

Return to Newsletter Contents

The Internet is many things. It is a communication tool, a research resource, a marketing research platform and an identification device. But foremost, it is a powerful marketing tool. The Internet can help you to achieve your company's marketing goals. It does not stand alone but should be viewed as a part of an overall marketing communication program.

A few steps to keep you on the right track. Before setting up your Web site, clarify your business objectives. If you don't, it amounts to setting up a billboard on a desert road where it wont be seen and where it won't generate any sales.

What is now called "digital marketing" is a tool to complement your traditional marketing efforts. Setting up your own Web site will acquaint potential customers with your company and product information, including photos, sound and video. On it, you can publish interactive product order forms, plus conduct research on current and prospective customers' tastes and preferences.

Be sure to make the most of your data gathering -- invaluable for learning what, and if, you must fine-tune in your product line -- by having your service provider's server track your Web visitations. Later, analyst software can easily convert this information into graphs, charts and tables to help you identify trends and assess the effectiveness of any on-line advertising.

If you're considering a roll-out of a new product, but don't have the time or resources to conduct focus groups, do it yourself from your Web site. Or launch a corporate newsletter for clients and prospects by publishing it on your site. Make sure, too, that other collateral like catalogs, brochures and press releases are housed on the site in an up-to-date, usable format. If you sponsor meetings, allow visitors to register on-line at your site.

Finally, before taking that plunge into cyberspace, look and see what your competitors are doing. - what their sites contain. Look at other industry sites to see how they are structured. Planning your Web site needs thought - don't rush in willy-nilly.

Having a site is only the beginning. You need to draw people to it. Your Internet presence is wasted if people don't visit it regularly. Marketing your site through the search engines is a science into itself. My advice is to find someone who can furnish this expertise. The best Web site not properly marketed is a waste of time, effort and money.

Return to Newsletter Contents

DON'T WASTE TIME ON THE PHONE

Make it a help, not a hindrance

There are some professions where the majority of working time is spent on the phone. Most managers, though, would relish a day when the phone doesn't ring. Think how much more productive you might be if your time on the phone was significantly cut. Perhaps it's a dream world, but there are some ways by which you can reduce needless involvement over the phone and make your calls compliment your productivity rather than hinder it.

The first step may seem to be the opposite of what you're trying to accomplish. It's simply to build a habit to return all calls. You must have had the experience of trying to reach someone, leaving countless messages and never receiving a return call. Don't be that someone! Return all calls, even from salespeople. Show them by your brevity and the pointed nature of your conversation that you view the phone as a vehicle for doing business, not for passing the time. By making more calls at first, you'll eventually find that people will call you only when they need concise, direct answers.

Whenever you don't want to be interrupted, screen your calls. This can be done through electronic answering, of course, but it's always preferable if the caller can talk took a human being. Arrange for someone else to receive your calls for a brief period, promising to do the same for them in return. Give them the names of anyone you want to talk to and have them tell all others when their calls will be returned.

Take a look at a typical working day and determine a no-telephone time. For example, suppose you identify the period just before lunch, say from 11:00 to noon. Begin to establish this time frame as one wherein you will avoid the phone at almost all costs. Ask anyone who does call to please, in the future, refrain from calling during this hour. Don't make any outgoing calls yourself and tell your subordinates not to call at this time. Within a couple of weeks, you'll have yourself an hour each day of time uninterrupted by the phone. Then use this time for real productivity.

Don't socialize over the phone. Don't ask, "How are you?" or "What's new?" or any other general question that could stimulate a long-winded discussion unrelated to the business purpose of the call. If you're asked a general question by the caller, give only a brief response, or tell them you'll talk about that some other time. When you've received the right information or provided the right answer, get off the phone. You don't need it any more.

Group your outgoing calls. Just because you have a pile of messages when you return to your office doesn't mean you have to return all the calls just then. If it's morning, they should all be returned by the end of the day. If it's afternoon, they should be returned by noon the next day. Set them aside and pick a time twice each day to return all calls you've received up to that point People will appreciate your promptness and courtesy and you will be interrupting yourself much less frequently.

Delegate. Don't spend time on the phone talking about issues and problems that subordinates can - and should - handle.

When you receive a misdirected call, take a few minutes to explain how the caller can reach the right party to get a more direct and informed answer in the future.

Don't waste time on the phone. Learn how to terminate a call. Get an egg timer and keep it near your phone. Learn how quickly time can fly in needless conversation. Learn to be brief and to-the-point, without being rude or distant. When business has been completed, end the conversation, saying if necessary, that you can't talk further now. Above all, don't worry about offending. You're seldom as rude as you think you might sound. People seldom take offense to polite efficiency. They know you won't waste their time when you call.

The final world: Always be pleasant over the phone, no matter how offensive the caller may be. Don't create enemies in the interest of saving time. Remember, when the phone rings, that's your job calling!

By Carter Johnson
Buying Time Seminars
Darien, IL

Return to Newsletter Contents

Many managers think that handing out praise indiscriminately is better than not praising at all. They are wrong. If you hand out praise the wrong way, at the wrong time, or for the wrong reasons, it can do more harm than good. Here are some guidelines to follow when using praise to motivate employees:

Be very specific about what you praise. Never say, "Frank, you are doing a great job, keep up the good work." For all you know, Frank spent that morning making personal phone calls and goofing off. He's going to think that you are a pushover and easy to fool. Wait for something specific to praise, e.g., "Frank, you did a great job on the Anderson account. Keep up the good work."

Do not praise ordinary performance. If you praise employees for doing routine tasks, they won't be motivated to do better. Also, if and when they do excellent work, your praise will not mean as much.

Don't just "hit and run." If an employee does excellent work on a project, spend some time with that employee to let him or her know how much it means to you and the company. Better yet, take that employee to lunch, on the company, as a way of rewarding the behavior.

Use praise to improve poor performance. If an employee is doing well in one area, but poorly in another, use praise to improve the poor performance. Sit the employee down, praise what he or she is doing right, and then say, "Now, I want you to take the same approach on this other matter..."

Never assume praise is enough. Superior performance over time deserves more than compliments. Praise starts to ring hollow if that's all the employee ever gets. Bonuses, raises, interesting job assignments, and other forms of appreciation are absolutely essential at some point.

Return to Newsletter Contents

DID YOU KNOW?

The American worker is drowning in interruptions, according to a study conducted by Pitney Bowes and the Institute for the Future. The white collar worker, the study fund, sends and receives an average of 190 messages per day -- including phone calls, E-mail, Faxes, internal memos, snail mail, Post-it notes, and cell phone calls.

Telephone	52
E-mail	30
Voicemail	23
Snail mail	18
Interoffice mail	18
Fax	15
Post-in notes	11
Phone messages	10
Pager	4
Cell phone	3
Overnight messenger	3
USPS Express Mail	3

Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address over 130 years ago. Look at how his words compare.

	Number of Words
Gettysburg Address	272
Lay's Potato Chip Bag	401
IRA Form 1040 EZ	418
Average USA Today cover story	1200

Return to Newsletter Contents

THE INTERNET: It's Like TV's growth 50 years ago

It is mind boggling -- the Internet's huge growth in only a few years. It probably beats, by far, the rapid growth of TV owners/viewers between 1948 and 1960.

We can expect to see the number of adults on-line doubled in a very few years, especially as more women come on-line.

That computers have a young following is evident by the 14 million adults under the age of 30 who are on-line.

Here are the statistics:

	Number of Words
Number of adults on-line	41.5 million
Male	58%
Female	42%
Under age 30	32%
20-49	47%
Over 50	18%
Average age	37
College Graduates	43%
Access from home	74%
Access from office	17%
Access from college	8%
Access from library	3%

They claim this total number will increase by an additional 23.8 million by the end of the year. What's most interesting, is that the Internet is still largely a consumer market with the great majority of people accessing from the home.

Return to Newsletter Contents

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER