How to Perfect Your Lead Generation Follow-up | Duct Tape Marketing

June 28, 2017June 28, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Today we tackle Step #4 – How to Perfect Your Lead Generation Follow-up

The current infatuation of the internet marketing set is complex automated lead funnels. Go on Facebook, and you’ll likely be hit with ads offering to show you how to make it rain thousands of leads on autopilot.

While I’m not opposed to teaching lead generation techniques, I do think there is an issue with just thinking about the lead funnel as a standalone. After all, you don’t just want leads—you want new and returning customers on a consistent basis.

Mistakes That Big Companies Make So Yours Doesn’t Have To | The Startup Magazine

June 27, 2017June 26, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Barely a week goes by without another major, global brand being hauled onto the front page of the paper and ripped apart for various misdemeanors. From losing customer data to treating employees terribly, brands suffer huge setbacks; sometimes ones that prove fatal to their success. Luckily for those of you who run start-ups or SMEs, these businesses are making mistakes on a huge scale, and showing you how not to do business. You can use their mistakes to ensure that your company runs like clockwork – and you’ve got extra incentive to do so, and to avoid the awful consequences that come with doing the wrong thing.

Google promises to stop digging through your email inbox to target ads (which it was totally doing) | Mashable

June 27, 2017June 26, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Google will no longer scan your emails to steer the ads it shows you—a longstanding controversial practice that you may not have even been aware the company was doing.

The surprise announcement seems to be an effort to appease paying users of Google’s office email software. The search giant has never shown those customers ads or skimmed their emails as it does with its free Gmail service, but some were confused about that point, according to Google Cloud SVP Diane Greene.

“This decision brings Gmail ads in line with how we personalize ads for other Google products,” Greene wrote in a blog post.

How People Make Illogical Judgments Every Day | Life Hack

June 27, 2017June 26, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Are windmills machines used to produce wind? The faster windmills are observed to rotate, the more wind is observed to be. Therefore, wind is caused by the rotation of windmills.

This is an example of reverse causality, which happen when we illogically infer causation from correlation. Often times, we mistakenly imply a strong correlation means causation. Let’s look at another example of this mistake. U.S. spending on science, space, and technology correlates with suicides by hanging, strangulation and suffocation.

Everyone Secretly Hates Your “Friendly Reminder” Email | Fast Company

June 26, 2017June 25, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

How many times have you gotten this type of message? “Just sending a friendly reminder to please . . .” And how many times have you sent it?

You might think that “friendly reminder” emails are a nice attempt to be professional while disguising your actual annoyance at whoever’s holding you up from finishing something. In other words, it’s just a non-confrontational way to ask for something that’s late.

Well guess what? That’s all a misguided fantasy and it’s making everybody you email with secretly resent you. You need to stop doing it–immediately. Here’s why, and what to write instead.

Are Your Password Security Habits Improving? (Infographic) | Entrepreneur

June 26, 2017June 25, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

From the French presidential election to Gmail, a number of incidents have unfolded this year revealing how vulnerable our online security is. That’s why it’s more important than ever to make sure you go above and beyond to secure your digital privacy. And that can be as simple as changing your password every once in awhile.

Software company Digital Guardian recently surveyed 1,000 people to uncover their password security habits. The good news? Overall, the company found that internet users’ password habits were improving. Although with the amount of password-protected accounts people have today, being savvy about your security can be difficult. Around 42 percent of respondents reported having more than 10 password-protected accounts, with nearly 29 percent saying they were unsure or had “too many to count.”

When Did People Start Using Money? | Live Science

June 26, 2017June 25, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes you run across a grimy, tattered dollar bill that seems like it’s been around since the beginning of time. Assuredly it hasn’t, but the history of human beings using cash currency does go back a long time – 40,000 years.

Scientists have tracked exchange and trade through the archaeological record, starting in Upper Paleolithic when groups of hunters traded for the best flint weapons and other tools. First, people bartered, making direct deals between two parties of desirable objects.

Franchisees talk do-over: What they wish they knew before opening their franchise | Fast Casual

June 23, 2017June 23, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Amal Agha knew about business and finance when she opened her first franchise, a Rita’s Water Ice in New Jersey. What she and her partner/husband didn’t know was how much of being a franchisee involves managing people, and hiring and retaining employees proved to be the biggest challenge.

“We wish we had had more training on staffing up and being prepared on what employees will put you through,” Agha shared during a panel session, “What I wish I knew before buying a franchise,” at the International Franchise Expo held last week at the Jacob K. Javits Conference Center in New York City.

Movavi Convenient Screen Capture Studio Done For MAC | CoolBusinessIdeas.com

June 22, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If you are wondering how to record videos on the gadgets you use, we have the answer. It is obvious that there are times when you want to record a clip or a video or whatever is on the screen to view it later. You no longer need to stress on finding a way out. The Movavi Screen Capture studio there isa long list of multiple things that you can do. The features are quite easy to use. This technology serves a lot of problems and ensures new possibilities.

Keep Your Cold Emails Short, Sweet, and Readable by Avoiding These 4 Mistakes | Inc.com

June 21, 2017June 21, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Long emails are bad enough when they come from grandma. When they come from a stranger, they’re practically unforgivable.

One of the fastest ways to annoy potential buyers and lose business is to send them lengthy emails that say too much, quote too often, and broadcast your lack of respect for the recipient’s busy schedule.

Our work lives are filled with ways to do sales and marketing: messaging tools, news feeds, social networks, and on-the-go conference calls. That means even a moderately long email whose sales pitch is muddled can be a hindrance to doing business with others. No one wants to decipher your five-paragraph opus when they can find relevant benefits in a two-line message from someone else.

With that in mind, here are a few of the most common reasons long emails happen, and how to create better client relationships by avoiding them.