Category: Tools and Information

Innovator or Entrepreneur: Which One Are You? | All business

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How many times have you listened to a friend or loved one wax poetic about the brilliant idea that came to them in the shower? Really. Think about it.

How many pitches have you heard in your life for a new product, business venture, service, or invention? Can you come up with a number?

Or, how many times have you been the one to bend the ear of a friend or your spouse about the brilliant innovation that “just came to you,” as if in a dream?

And now, how many of those ideas — from others and your own — have actually moved past the idea stage and turned into something real?

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Why Engineers are the New Salespeople | Page19

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3341418764_29126fa663_bDo you like salespeople? If you answered yes, you might be a salesperson. In The Sales Bible, Jeffrey Gitomer discusses the reputation problem faced by salespeople—and how to solve it.

Why is this? Sadly, ever since the days of snake oil, the craft has been heavily associated with lying. Years of advertising have hardened consumers and trained them to be skeptical above all else, and no one is more suspect than a salesperson. A salesperson is, first and foremost, interested in getting you to buy what they’re selling, and usually only secondarily interested in your enjoyment of or satisfaction with the product.

Recently, however, some brands have seized upon an interesting strategy for dealing with this issue: get someone else to sell the product. Though professional salespeople struggle with trust, there is one employee who still retains it: the person who engineered, developed, or created it in the first place! Let’s call these people “Product experts.”

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Netflix To Roll Out A New, More Immersive Web Interface Starting In June | TechCrunch

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Netflix confirms today that it will roll out a new user interface on the web to all users worldwide beginning next month. A number of Netflix customers are already seeing the updated look-and-feel, however, according to various reports. The interface, which was previously demonstrated at CES and Mobile World Congress, brings the design of Netflix’s website more in line with what users today see on mobile phones, tablets, on gaming consoles and on other streaming media players, like Roku.

The most notable aspect to the new design is that it eliminates the slower, scrolling carousels for content discovery in favor of an updated look with larger thumbnails in each section which can be clicked on in order to expand a detail screen showing additional information about the title in question.

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  Why Don’t People Buy From Me? | Getentrepreneurial.com

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The Biggest Marketing Challenge WE All Face

The biggest challenge we’re dealing with today is change. Things are changing so fast. As a result of this rapid pace of change people do not know who to trust!

There are six questions your prospects want answered before they will buy from you. These questions are designed to allow you to think like your buyer and speak with them so they know you are the right and safe choice.

Why the Six Questions are Important

When I started my business back in 2001, I lacked trust. What I really mean is that I did not know who could help me get clear on my ideal client. Every time I ask someone they said things I did not understand. I was confused and a confused mind does not take action. This is what we’re dealing with.

Stick with me as I talk about things you may not have thought about before. Keep an open mind because, to grow your business, you need to find someone you can trust.

Remember we stated earlier that “trust” is the biggest marketing issue we need to address. This is what marketing is about – helping our prospects to trust us so we can start the sales process.

Let’s jump right in.

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Mastering the Fine Art of Managing People | Inc.com

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downloadEric Ryan vividly recalls the origin of his rigorous hiring philosophy. It was 2005, and his sustainable cleaning-products business, Method, was growing fast. “I heard someone say, ‘We just need a warm body,'” recalls Ryan. “It scared the crap out of me.”

Mediocre hires are like empty calories: They make you bigger but less healthy. At Method, which has 158 employees, and at his new vitamin and nutrition business, Olly, which has 12, Ryan approaches each hire as though the company’s future depended on getting it right. Landing a job at Method is hard. Ryan estimates that the process takes twice as long as at many other companies. “We maintain a very high standard, and if it takes a while to find the perfect person, that’s OK,” says Ryan.

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Is a reservation about an employee a deal-breaker? | Mashable.com

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Hiring isn’t easy. An interviewer must consider a candidate’s potential in light of the future of a department and a company (sometimes with little guidance). In the absence of certainty, it’s not uncommon for a hiring manager to pick the applicant who possesses what Lily Zhang of The Muse describes as “sparkle.” It’s easier to like a top candidate who doesn’t simply excel over the course of the job search process, but who manages to outshine his competition.

But sometimes, when you’re leading a hiring process, you’ll find that an applicant who is strong on paper doesn’t “sparkle.” Instead, something feels a little off. Here’s what you should do when you’re uncertain how to proceed.

1. When it’s something the candidate could overcome

A candidate might not stand out simply because he’s not a strong applicant. Interviewing is a skill, and just like there are poor test-takers, there are people who study hard and then freeze up when the big day comes. In other words, his interview performance — while less than ideal — wouldn’t bear any correlation to his future job performance.

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Want Leads? Use YouTube Remarketing | Small Biz Trends

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downloadRemarketing on YouTube has become almost as commonplace as remarketing on the Web. YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine with over 1 billion active users each month. Perfecting your marketing strategy for such a large platform can have huge benefits for companies, and what many are realizing is that the remarketing aspect of YouTube has huge potential.

It’s ultimately a great way to get a viewer — whether they clicked on your video, subscribed to your channel, unsubscribed from your channel, viewed your in-stream ads, etc. — coming back to your channel as you upload new videos. In the end, this is a great way to generate more quality leads to help you drive your business growth forward.

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Seven Spring Cleaning Tips for Your Small Business | All business

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When you’re running a small business, it can be difficult to pull yourself away the day-to-day responsibilities, take a breath, and examine what you can do to drive growth over the long term. As summer approaches, it’s likely you’ll devote some time to clearing out the clutter in your personal life, like cleaning out the messy garage, so why not do the same for your business?

Of course, you won’t be cleaning out your garage (unless that’s where you work), but scheduling some time to examine the progress you’ve made toward meeting your annual goals and identifying the actions you need to take to meet those goals can be beneficial.

Below are seven tips to guide you.

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Until We Meet Again Part 4 | Peter Mehit

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imagesWhere does the time go? No seriously, why can’t you store it up? Why can’t you borrow it from the future? Probably because we’d all be dead, having spent our future in replays and do-overs.

But fortunately, you can’t store or borrow time. You can only spend it. Instead of launching into a piece on the nature of man and time, I’ll instead supply you with some ideas on its wise expenditure when it comes to meetings.

You’ve done your agenda and selected the right participants, sending them the agenda early so they can have time to look at it. What’s next? Actually, we’re going to look at your agenda again.

Continue reading “Until We Meet Again Part 4 | Peter Mehit” →