Small Business Marketing

There is so much nonsense about the horrors to the American economy of big, bad outsourcing (including a sad, sad cover story recently in the flip-flopping old/new/old Fast Company magazine) that I thought I'd share some rational - and positive - analysis of the trend from eWeek. This is interesting because eWeek readers (in the technology sector) have been among the very hardest hit by the outsourcing trend. Read on for the good news...

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1557020,00.asp

This one came in from career consultant and coach, Dave Savage:
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OFFICE ARITHMETIC

Smart boss + smart employee = profit
Smart boss + dumb employee = production
Dumb boss + smart employee = promotion
Dumb boss + dumb employee = overtime

I've bolded the punchline for emphasis, but the rest speaks for itself. Unbelievable. July 2005 Addendum: This service rep's husband keeps dogging me to change this poor woman's name on my blog, so I've done so. Just to re-emphasize, I would never EVER do business with this company. EVER.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Newman
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 8:58 AM
To: Queensboro Logo Approval
Subject: Re: Your logo has been digitized and needs your review

Dear Queensboro Shirt Co.:

Due to your repeated failure to provide the correct digitized logo based on
my emailing the exact logo I need on both 3/3/04 and again on 3/8/04, I am
cancelling this order immediately.

The order # is 96516 and my customer # is 501677.

I am very disappointed in this level of service and the lack of attention to
detail that should be the lifeblood of your business.

Please process a refund to my credit card for the full amount of $174 that
was posted on 3/3/04. I am requesting that this refund be posted within the
next 48 hours.

-- David Newman

*******************

From: "Sally Namechangedtoprotecttheguilty"
To: "David Newman"
Subject: RE: Your logo has been digitized and needs your review
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 10:37:35 -0500

Dear David,

Your order has been cancelled and your credit card has been credited the
money for your cancelled order. Please keep us in mind for future orders.

Thanks,

Sally Namechangedtoprotecttheguilty
Account Executive
The Queensboro Shirt Company
1400 Marstellar Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
http://www.queensboro.com

I just finished publishing my first book and found this incredibly handy resource. You must first, obviously, register and purchase a block of ISBN numbers. But the barcode you need for your book can be generated free here:
http://www.cgpp.com/bookland/isbn.html

This came across my desk from Ari Galper of Unlock the Game and I like it a lot -- it's very much in line with my own philosophy of helping people "sell from the heart":
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It seems as if applying the following 6 principles would actually make your sales drop. But that's the paradox -- instead of designing a process for getting you to a close or to making a sale, I came up with an approach that starts with only one goal -- to get to the truth:

- Call without any expectations of a sale.
- Open a dialogue centered on your prospect's world.
- Build a relationship with no hidden agendas.
- You and your prospect both decide whether you have a "fit" or "no fit."
- Whether you make this sale or not, you now know the prospect's truth.
- Sale or not, you've built a relationship for the future.

---

See? Sales is NOT rocket science! It's about being REAL and being of REAL VALUE.

I recently was emailed with this great question:
---
One thing I am looking at is using additional domain names that relate to my coaching niche. Some of the ones I want to use are not available as .com but are available as .net,.org, .us or .biz. My question is do you think any of the top levels is better than another?
---
This is a great question and here is my 3 cents on it (in order of preference):

.com is far and away the most preferable domain extension. I actually advise clients that if some variation of their company name can't be used with .com, to pick another name! The marketing liability is just that big. ".com" says legitimacy, it says original, it says you're getting the real deal.

.org is my next pick. Formerly limited to non-profit organizations, now there is no legal barrier to anyone using .org and it carries positive associations with doing good, with a larger organization, and with a "cause."

.net is OK. It implies "network" and if you do indeed have a network of professionals that you work with or refer business to, this might position you as an aggregator of expertise, and not just someone flying solo. Formerly used only for telecommunications companies and internet providers, those associations are quickly disappearing.

I would avoid .us and .biz - they reek of fly-by-night, scams, hot stock tips, cruises, and toner refill companies. If I had to pick a preference, I would sooner see a .biz which at least has some business association, even if it is clearly third-tier and somewhat shady as far as legitimacy. As for .us that is really pretty weak and it's usually the leavings on the table when all other domain extensions have been taken.

Another option is .tv which I am also not crazy about with one exception. If you're in the broadcast or video business, a .tv extension makes a ton of sense and actually makes your domain easy to remember and it becomes part of your brand. See an excellent use of this here: http://www.greenworks.tv

Hope that helps you make your decisions. Email me privately if you'd like to discuss further. By the way, I own over 100 domain names for my various brands, products and services, simply to "protect the territory." So I've done some thinking about this!! Take care.

-- D.
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David Newman, Founder | 3sixT
We help people sell from the heart
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w: http://www.360phila.com
t: 610.527.5325 | e: david@360phila.com
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From my friend Theresa Krallinger:
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Incredible ... this must have taken forever to build ...

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~yel/Fire.html
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