When I wrote about Capella University’s wondrous freebies in the Holy Grail of Swag, I truly believed their customized and personalizable academic planner couldn’t be topped. I mean, it came with stickers.

But the little beauty pictured above arrived earlier this week, and I just had to share it. It tickles me as much as the planner, and while it pretty much speaks for itself, I will say this:

• It’s smaller than the palm of my hand and easily fits in both my purse and laptop bag
• The carry box is very sturdy and durable
• There are extra staples for the teeny stapler, which is super-nifty

And it totally passes the IttyBiz Test of Great Swag: relevant, appropriate, attractive, practical, coordinating, and “not shit”.

Et tu? Have you received a notably good freebie lately? Lemme know down below…

Scratch my back honey by jayaram

Businesses, both large and small, have always revolved around simple exchanges: salt for seeds, dollars for hours, quid pro quo, tit for tat. But why settle for one exchange?

The sweet money is on businesses that tit for tat for tit for tat for tit for…on and on. And it doesn’t have to be a difficult process. In fact, continually profitable rounds of tit/tat can start by simply responding generously to clients who send us new business.

Here’s a customer service relationship glory story that reveals the beauty in business beyond that first tat:

You scratch my back…

Last summer, Mom found the holy grail of paint chips and wanted every room in her new townhouse painted a yummy butter yellow. While we’re always available to help out, it was too big a job for any of us kids, especially since many of the rooms are 20+ feet high.

Through her extensive network of family and friends-like-family, Mom had happened on Joe The Painter. Joe did a fine job on her last house, so she only winced a little when he happily quoted a steep-ish price for another top-to-bottom paint job.

When he showed up with dropcloths, scaffolding, and plenty of paint but only one other painter, she thought, “Well, I guess the price was quoted for the hours, because this is clearly going to take a long while.”

But it didn’t.

Two and a half days later, the entire place was done. And done well. She was thrilled to have paid for speed and quality, and Joe The Painter earned a new best friend.

…and I’ll scratch yours…

And Joe The Painter’s new best friend told everybody about Joe, because everyone who dropped by Mom’s new place loved the soft wall color, and wondered about the lunatic who painted those super-tall walls.

Of course, she told them about Joe and his fearless assistant José, who had sky-kissing scaffolds, arrived early, left late, didn’t make a hellacious mess, did a perfect job, and got it all done in just a few days—though at a price.

Of course they asked for his number, and of course she shared it, and of course Joe called to thank her for all the new business she was sending his way.

And then he promised her a deal on her next paint project, and there was no “of course” about that. It was a pleasant surprise and Mom was quick to take him up on it.

…and you scratch my back…

When Dan finished wiring her movie room, Joe came over to paint the walls a deep chocolate brown at the promised discount price. And when Mom mentioned how the room’s light-colored carpet was going to get mauled by all the kid and pet traffic through there, he mentioned that he cleaned carpets, too.

Oh, really?

So in early winter, after a half-dozen parties and a gazillion movie nights, the light-colored carpet was indeed mauled. Joe came in to clean it, and he charged Mom less than she expected. And when she decided “a cave look would be cool for a movie room, don’tcha think?”, Joe came back and put a coat of dark brown paint on the movie room’s ceiling, too. This time, Joe didn’t charge her hardly anything at all.

And of course, people comment on the max-fabulous movie room when they come over for dinner or movies or parties or whatever…and of course, Mom tells everyone about Joe.

…and…

Joe and his multi-talented crew have been at Mom’s house a lot lately. They came to clear her gutters during the big mid-winter melt, and he didn’t charge her anything. When they painted her inset bedroom ceiling a bodacious bordello red, he only charged her for supplies. When they cleared her gutters and edged her front garden last week, he wouldn’t take any money for it.

And when Mom insisted she had to pay him “…something Joe, because no one works for free”, he reminded her:

“Jodi, do you know how much business you’ve sent me this year? I painted one of your daughter’s entire house this winter, and I just finished your friend Josephine’s whole house last week. And in between there have been plenty of smaller jobs for your other friends and family. We’ll get back to money at some point, but right now I’m paying you back for all the new business.”

Oh, really?

…the scratching goes on and on

Now Mom is wondering who she hasn’t told about Joe, with the idea that if she spreads the word farther and better she may earn enough free work to cover autumn’s house maintenance.

She was already happily and willingly sharing his number, but now she’s striving to tell the world about Joe the Painter because there’s a direct and tangible benefit for her.

Who have you scratched lately?

When a customer/client refers new business, a thank you card is thoughtful and considerate…but it’s the least we can do. Literally.

For referrals that lead to small jobs, maybe a bouquet of flowers or a Mrs. Field’s muffin basket would be a welcome gift? When a customer referral leads to a large project, then a percentage-based commission, a finder’s fee, or an account credit would be perfectly appropriate—and surely a welcome surprise for someone who spreads the word about our business on our behalf.

Et tu? What do you do—or would like to do!—for customers who send you new business?

Or from the customer side of the story, what goodies have come your way from appreciative vendors?

Image credit: DNY59

When I introduced my strategic collaboration consulting idea earlier this week, anything could have happened in the comments area. Thankfully, I got the same encouraging and helpful feedback BBB commenters give all the business bits that get posted here. And as always, I appreciate every word of it!

We had a good giggle about the alleged cleverness of my 140-character microconsulting service—which inspired yesterday’s Super Genius post—but the larger discussion ignored the nature of my services, and even the technology I’ll use to deliver them. Instead, we bantered about how much I wasn’t charging for it.

Both Chris Guillebeau and Shawn Christenson commented that my proposed $65 per one-hour session was too low. Their li’l duet harmonized with a chorus of offline voices including, and especially, my cheerleading whip-cracking business coach Christine.

This week has seen a lot of asking, listening, and reminiscing on the Consulting Rate Tango, which is sorta like the Annual Salary Boogie . The conversations were spun with anecdotes and recollections…some funny, some not-so-funny.

In no particular order, here are some snippets on the hazards of assigning a monetary value to precious intangibles: our skills and our time. Names have been changed to protect privacy, of course:

Anecdotes

Shena was referred to an organization by a friend who had been invited to bid on their project, but was unable to schedule it in. The organization welcomed Shena’s bid, and she offered her well-qualified self at the hourly rate she knew her friend would have charged. The organization balked at the price and offered her 25% less than what she asked. She accepted their reduction with good grace, suppressing a victorious cheer. What they were willing to pay was three times the hourly rate she’d charged her most recent client!

A short email from Stephanie: “Thought you’d be interested to hear that after laboring for 3 days over what I should charge that client, I finally, about 15 minutes ago, emailed my numbers to her (which were higher than what my head was saying and slightly lower than what my gut was saying) and literally within one minute, she’d written back to say, ‘Sounds good. We don’t need a new contract. Let me know when you want more money.’ Guess I coulda asked for more! All’s good.”

Darlene found the online job board that listed the new position at her small company. She was stunned by its $75,000 starting salary. The job description was a match to hers, except for an additional year of experience and a premiere IT certification. She’s studying like a woman-on-fire for those exams, because a $750 investment in testing fees has a potential ROI of $20,000 per year. Of course, she printed the job notice to hand to her boss with her exam results, just to make sure they’re on the same page.

Robin’s consulting rate sheet has two columns: a New York market price column for the North Atlantic states, and a much discounted rate column for the South. Clients in both regions are content with her rates, and so is she.

Recollections

Many years ago, Andrea and I argued bitterly on pricing ethics. The story: Her non-mutual friend charged a company $10,000 for an employee survey database consisting of one table, one form, and a handful of reports—it took the guy less than two days to assemble it. The client was delighted with their overpriced deliverable, Andrea was amused at her friend’s cleverness (and the company’s ignorance), and I was appalled by the whole damned thing.

I once undervalued (and underbid) a database/website project so badly that by the end, I made far less than the US minimum hourly wage. That was an awful feeling. But what soured me on future project work, maybe for all time, was overhearing the contractor billed the client for at least three times my foolishly low subcontractor’s bid…and thereby got a big fat lion’s share of the cash. It was my own doing, there’s no one else to blame. But of course, I was appalled by the whole damned thing!

Having shared those, here a quote from the Greek historian, Herodotus—
It is better to be envied, than to be pitied.

I called a freelance writer for a quote on some copy. He offered me a reasonable price with a 25% discount if I promised not to be a pain in the ass. I paid him full price, saying there was no way I’d forfeit my PITA rights for $30. Sure, I could’ve taken the discount, but I value his time and help more than that.

Back when I regularly visited a salon, the posted price to tame my mop was $45, but I always paid my stylist $60. The shampoo staff expected a $2 tip, but I always gave them $5. Then, like now, I didn’t have money to throw away…but my hair works my nerves, y’all. What those professionals can do in 3 hours with a smile takes me 8 hours of pained sighs. I’m exhausted and snarky when I’m finally done. Their help is worth more than they ask for, so I give them what it’s worth to me.

Jonah said it’s impossible for me to value my own knowledge effectively. He says what I think my knowledge is worth is irrelevant. He says to consider two things only: 1) How valuable is my knowledge/expertise to someone who doesn’t have it and needs it?, and 2) How much are they willing and able to pay for it? He says it’s too easy to take my skills for granted and undervalue them, simply and specifically because they’re mine.

Takeaways

These stories have bits worth simmering on when considering the true monetary value of our time. Here’s a summary:

• Price your value by the market, not your rate/salary history.
• Price your value by your client’s locale, not your own.
• Get feedback on your value from people that you trust. You may not know best…or most.
• Words are feedback. Body language is feedback. Facial expressions are feedback. And so is silence.
• Choose a fee/rate you can live with, even if it means losing the gig as the highest bidder.
• Set your rates a bit higher than you think you should. Smarter to offer discounted rates to your budget clients than try to raise your rates for those with deep pockets.

Et tu? Have you got your own stories and rememories? Different takeaways, too? Lemme know down below!

DailyOm is a mighty fine example of an email newsletter paired with a multi-faceted website. Observed in toto, it’s a motherlode of strategies and tactics for anyone trying to leverage their published content for online income.

Rather than appproach it as a lengthy case study (it would takes weeks, y’all!), I’ll share nibbles of DailyOm’s workings as I assess them over the next month or so. Keeping you in suspense is not my goal, but offering a thorough picture is. Tricky stuff, because every time I return to the website I spot something new—or at least new to me—so we’ll just take it as it comes, ok?

To start, something(s) I’ve appreciated since my very first email from DailyOm are the lusciously subtle labels they use for the many corners of their site.

Exactly Like That…But Different (and better)

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

~Juliet Capulet, Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Jules is right for the most part, but a just-right name may make the difference when it comes to convincing ezine readers to leave the relative safety of their Inbox to visit your website.

Like Naomi said in her post on copywriting and conversion, “The context and demographic are the differentiating factors” when it comes to writing about and labeling things, particularly for critical—and usually permanent—text such as website navigation.

If you check out the photo at the top, you’ll see labels in yesterday’s DailyOm flagged with more typical terms. The DailyOm labels aren’t shockingly different from what we normally see, but they don’t need to be. They only need to be understandable and suitable for their target market.

With that in mind, I suspect the slightly different and suitably descriptive terms at DailyOm work a treat with the touchy-feely, New Age-y folks that visit their site. Heck, I’m not (entirely) like that and they work me just fine!

As one of their market, it may be useful to share my response to these labels in comparison to how I interpret their common counterparts. As you read through these, think about whether or not your website is as effectively labeled for the folks that you’re trying to reach.

Marketplace

Like Classified Ads, DailyOm’s Marketplace includes short descriptions of stuff to buy. But while Classified Ads paints a picture of a newspaper’s cryptic abbreviations, used cars and appliances, and alarming personal ads, Marketplace conjures visions of a vast bazaar with authentic ethnic food, unfamiliar treasures, and a flurry of interesting folks.

Okay, sure, from my experience Marketplace also means painful mistranslations, thieving gypsy children, and getting shortchanged because I haven’t yet learned the currency. These remembered realities mix with my romanticism…and that’s not a bad thing.

When I clicked Marketplace with my expectation of discovery and adventure, I was rewarded with readable ads and color photos for things like Long Distance Qigong Energy Healing and Real Yoga-Pedicure Sandals. Cha-ching!

Gift Shop

I love this one. There’s not a whole lot of difference between a Store and a Gift Shop, but there definitely is one. When I read Store I think of purchasing necessities among snippy patrons, and then standing in line to meet a bored cashier leaning on an ugly cash register. Ugh.

But when I read Gift Shop I picture museum gift shop goodies or tourist gift shop oddities, the buzz of eager buyers…and standing in line to meet a bored cashier leaning on an ugly cash register.

Again, some unsexy realities seep in around the edges, including grievous overpricing. But the overall impression of Gift Shop is quite different than Store, in that I expect to find things that: 1) I probably won’t see anywhere else, 2) Are clearly themed to the gift shop’s location, and 3) Would be a suitable present for someone (or for treating myself).

And once again, my click is rewarded! The DailyOm Gift Shop offers Native American Medicine Teas, Detoxifying Foot Pads, and Aromatherapy Body Patches. Well, I surely haven’t spotted any of those in Target, they’re terrifically appropo, and I think they’re a fun treat for anyone (though the recipient might think differently!).

Notably, DailyOm distributes a big fat product advertising email once a week. I know from the headline that it’s not their daily message, but I usually archive or open it instead of deleting it. I suspect that’s because it’s titled Gifts of the Week and not Buy Now!.

Community

This one highlights the importance of context. Many ezines are just that—a periodic newsletter/magazine delivered by email. DailyOm, however, is a bit a more. It leeeeans into being a blog by posting the daily articles on the website and encouraging the subscriber/member commentary that is logged on the site as Community.

To me, Community is better than Comments because it gives a sense of conversation as opposed to a collection of blurbs. If DailyOm was a blog, we would expect dialogue on the other side of the word Comments. As a hybrid site, DailyOm needs a name that would, and does, reflect an expectation for the environment. This may also be why site members aren’t called members…they’re called nice people.

Friends

And along with a membership of nice people, DailyOm has Sponsors that are our Friends—both implicitly and explicitly. In the conspicuous top-right sponsorship spot on both the website and in the ezine, neither word is used. Instead, “brought to you by” implies that we wouldn’t have this great content for free if these folks hadn’t paid to have it delivered to us.

I feel a tug of obligation when I read that, and usually respond to the brief, clear call to action that always accompanies that spot. This time, it reads “Click here to ask 3 questions”, other times it’s “Click here to detox while you sleep” or “Click here to overcome self-sabotage in 8 weeks.”

On the flipside, Friend explicitly labels the middle-sidebar ad that could be a link exchange, a paid placement, a self-promotion, or free public service environment. It’s tough to tell, and it changes day-to-day.

Overall, I’m neutral about the commonly-used Sponsors. ‘Nuf said.

Knowing that a DailyOm Marketplace advertisement costs $75 per week, wouldn’t I also love to know how much DailyOm is earning from these subtly executed yet very prominent ad placements? Especially when DailyOm has 225,000 subscribers? Which is 9-10 times as many subscribers as Alexandria Brown, and she gets at least $167 for her classified ads? And Ali’s ads are buried at the bottom of the ezine? Whew!

Getting It Right

This is all completely subjective, of course, because everyone responds to labels differently based on their previous experiences with those labels. Expectations will differ, opinions will differ, and strength of the emotion will also differ.

So I’m wondering how we’ll know if/when we’ve got it right? Do we need to run live testing on our site and wait months for results? Or do we invest time and energy in a facilitated focus group?

Or do we save our time and effort by going with the typical: Store, Classifieds, Comments, and Sponsors… and maybe miss out on a valuable—and valued—emotional response from our target market?

Lemme know down below…

Image credit: Mzelle Biscotte

When a really good idea is executed in a clearly not-good way, it pays to pause and ponder on what the executor could gain from doing it badly.

For example, I was chatting with Tonya from Fake It Until You Make It [an informative ezine I scavenge for free and affordable business tools to review] and she mentioned a free publicity ecourse that had really good content in a not-really-good delivery format.

Based on the ecourse description, I agreed with her assessment that it was overwhelming, but I signed up for it anyway. When the first lesson arrived, what I saw had me wondering if there was something sinister afoot.

A Great Idea, Executed Poorly

Joan Stewart of The Publicity Hound offers a press release ecourse that is thorough. Like, 89 straight days of lessons kind of thorough.

Does the idea of receiving tips every day for three months alarm you
as much as it did me?

And Dan? And my business coach? Because we all agreed that 89 lessons is unwieldy. Proof was that Tonya has a month’s worth of unread lesson emails piled in a folder, waiting…and accumulating (daily)…and waiting…and accumulating (daily)…and…

Our small but unanimous vote tagged this ecourse as doomed because of its duration, even if the content is both free and good (which it is). Still, I saw on her site that Joan’s “89 Tips” ebook had been repurposed into this collection of free tips. Or maybe vice versa…there’s no way to tell which came first. Good stuff either way, though.

So out of curiosity I signed up for the ecourse. And having received, read, and reviewed my first email lesson, I thought two things:

1. The ecourse content is clearly written and well-focused and I’m looking forward to the next lesson, and
2. The ecourse format is designed to piss me off such that I’ll forsake the freebie and shell out for the ebook. Seriously.

Pissing Me Off, Part 1

Few things get me truly miffed, particularly with online stuff. However, this ecourse raised my blood pressure a notch before I read a single word of content.

The first lesson arrived in my Inbox right away, and I opened it eagerly to find…nothing.

Okay, not nothing, but close enough. Instead of a lesson, there was one line each for a welcome, an ecourse introduction, a note on lesson bonuses, and a hyperlink to the lesson on her site.

So now I’m a little ticked, right? From where I sit, Joan and I started with a fair and typical exchange. I traded direct access to me via my Inbox for her free information that will include at least one sales offer that I may or may not accept. Now I feel like our arrangement is out of balance because in addition to direct marketing to my email address, she can also leverage my hits on her site, while I didn’t gain anything more.

I’m sensitive to the flow of online currency (not just money, but hits, links, readers, subscribers, followers, retweets, etc.), and I recognize that a small imbalance in this area would stand out. So I decided I was making mountains out of a molehills and thought of two benign and beneficial reasons for Joan to send me to her site for the email course content:

1. So she can monitor which lessons get read via her website stats, since the email links weren’t trackable, and
2. She had graphics, a layout, or video that wouldn’t work well (if at all) as an email

So I clicked the link with anticipation…

Pissing Me Off, Part 2

DENIED! Here’s what I found at http://www.publicityhound.com/pressreleasetips/tip1.htm

After I recovered from the shock, I thought two things:

1. Oh hellllll no! and
2. Oh no she di’n't!

If you’ve read other posts at BBB, you know I’m generally professional and reasonably well-spoken. But the unwelcome surprise of finding a wad of Google Adsense where I expected content drained every drop of that. This was a huge issue, and here’s why:

The least of it is that the ads were unavoidable which created an even greater imbalance in our relationship. The Adsense itself was not the problem, it’s where and how it’s positioned. Note that absolutely no content is displayed. Internet Explorer reveals only a bit more under the ads—the lesson’s title.

I felt I had been tricked into looking at it, and I wasn’t at all happy with the prospect of 88 more days of unavoidable Adsense. But mostly I was ticked off because I gave Joan my email address and my first two interactions with her (opening her email and arriving at her site) gave me nothing in return.

Which brings me to the bigger issue: I gave Joan the most valuable thing I can offer an information marketer—my email address. Like I found with Alexandria Brown’s ezine, Joan can leverage access to me for advertising revenue, earning much even if she never sold me a single one of her products. But there’s plenty of opportunity for her to do both.

Because while I ostensibly subscribed to three months of lessons, what I actually signed up for was 89 opportunities for Joan to sell me something. She offers six press release products for me to buy, priced from $27 to $247. She has a $4,000/year mentoring program to coax me into. She has an affiliate program (which I don’t belong to, by the way) that would reward me plenty for successfully selling you on her products, most notably a 20% commission on that pricey mentoring program.

So why in the world was my attention squandered on a heavy-handed Google Adsense technique where an ad clickthrough will likely earn her no more than $1 AND sweep me away to someone else’s press release site? One of two reasons:

1. She understands the value of each online income stream very well, but not how to combine them effectively
2. There is a conspiracy to frustrate me with a long and irritating ecourse, such that I am driven to buy the ebook in self-defense.

Poor Execution…For The Win?

If it’s #1—that Joan is unfamiliar with combining online income streams—then her marketing tactics are just getting in the way of her great content. If that was so, I’d be willing to stay for the content until the bitter end of the 89th lesson while doing my best to ignore the format.

If it’s #2? Well, that’s risky business. Rather than buy the ebook, my frustration could just as easily lead me to write a heated blog post to highlight the faults in the strategies so my friends and I can have something to chew on. Heh.

But who’s to say that it’s not both…or neither? With that in mind, I’m going to both maintain my subscription AND put it out here for us to talk about. Because the content looks to be that good, and the execution looks to be that not-so-good.

And now that I’ve had my say, I don’t believe Joan would intentionally frustrate her customers in an effort to force a buy. Insurance, pharmaceutical, and antivirus companies try to scare us into buying all the time (and it often works), but a strategy that entails frustrating us into buying would be crappy and, like I said earlier, quite risky. Joan’s too smart, too seasoned, and too professional for that. I doubt she would take the chance we would drop Publicity Hound like a hot rock.

Ideas For A Better eCourse

Reading back over that, I’ve been kinda abrupt. I should make it clear that I don’t dislike ecourses, Joan Stewart, or her products. Quite the opposite, actually!

But her ecourse plucked the same nerve as my peeves with lackluster PDFs: great tools wielded ineffectively cost us results, customers, time, and money.

We can plan and build our lists effortfully and spend our time and money carefully, but poor execution will rob us of our Big Win despite all that effort and care.

That said, here are some ways I think we can build better ecourses:

1. Keep it short and give readers time to breathe.
   Five to seven lessons is probably plenty for a daily ecourse? If we have more than ten lessons it’s likely time to consider delivery on alternate days. The more lessons we have, the more time our readers will need to keep up. Like, if we have 50 tips then maybe we should deliver one each week for a year, not daily for almost two months.
2. Put the entire lesson in the email
   Put all of it in the email unless there is a compelling reason for readers to go elsewhere, such as heavy and essential graphics, a fabulous and necessary layout that won’t work as an email, or video.
3. Offer the collection of lessons as an ebook
   I think Joan was right on with this. Having all that good content in one easy-to-read PDF file is reason enough to buy, but ecourse subscribers may feel more compelled to purchase if there’s bonus content the ecourse didn’t have, such as extra lessons, downloadable audio files, or exclusive access to how-to videos.
4. Advertise with subtlety and care
   Text links, not banner ads. Discreet but visible placement of Google Adsense. Suggest a product, don’t insist upon it. There are numerous opportunities to sell something in an ecourse, but just one unwelcome hard sell could turn our eager reader into an unsubscriber.
5. Track everything we can
   It’s critical to know what emails our subscribers open, and which links they clicked on. Any good email service can manage this. I use iContact because it has useful features, a clean and friendly interface, and thorough help files.

Et tu? Got more suggestions on what would make a great ecourse? Have doubts or questions about these? Lemme know down below!

cc PÃ¥l Berge, courtesy of Flickr

Note: You may already know the story, but you don’t yet know my take on it…click here to skip to the moral of the story

A pastor concluded that his church was getting into very serious financial troubles. While checking the church storeroom, he discovered several cartons of new bibles that had never been opened and distributed—and got a great idea.

At his next Sunday sermon, he asked for three volunteers from the congregation who would be willing to sell the bibles door-to-door for $10 each, raising the much-needed money for their church. Jack, Paul and Louie all raised their hands to volunteer for the task.

The minister knew that Jack and Paul earned their living as salesmen and were clearly capable of selling some bibles. But he had serious doubts about Louie the local farmer, who had always kept to himself because he was embarrassed by his speech impediment.

Poor Louie stuttered badly. But, wanting to discourage Louie, the minister decided to let him give it a try anyway. He sent the three men away with the back seats of their cars stacked with bibles. He asked each of them to meet with him the following Sunday to report the results of their door-to-door selling efforts.

The following week, eager to find out how successful they were, the minister immediately asked Jack, “Well, Jack, how did you make out selling our bibles last week?”

Proudly handing the reverend an envelope, Jack replied, “Using my sales prowess, I was able to sell 20 bibles, and here’s the $200 I collected on behalf of the church.”

“Fine job, Jack!” The minister said, vigorously shaking his hand . “You are indeed a fine salesman and our church is indebted to you.”

Turning to Paul the minister asked, “And Paul, how many bibles did you sell for the Church last week?”

Paul, smiling and sticking out his chest, confidently replied, “I am a professional salesman. I sold 28 bibles on behalf of the church, and here’s $280 I collected.”

The minister responded, “That’s absolutely splendid, Paul! You are truly a professional salesman and the church is deeply indebted to you.”

Apprehensively, the minister turned to Louie and said, “And Louie, did you manage to sell any bibles last week?”

Louie silently offered the minister a large envelope. The minister opened it and counted the contents. “What is this?” the minister exclaimed. “Louie, there’s $3200 in here! Are you suggesting that you sold 320 bibles for the church, door to door, in just one week?”

Louie just nodded.

“That’s impossible!” both Jack and Paul said in unison. “We are professional salesmen, yet you claim to have sold 10 times as many bibles as we could.”

“Yes, this does seem unlikely,” the minister agreed. “I think you’d better explain how you managed to accomplish this, Louie.”

Louie shrugged. “I-I-I re-re-really do-do-don’t kn-kn-know f-f-f-for sh-sh-sh-sure,” he stammered.

Impatiently, Peter interrupted. “For crying out loud, Louie, just tell us what you said to them when they answered the door!”

“A-a-a-all I-I-I s-s-said wa-wa-was,” Louie replied, “W-w-w-w-would y-y-y-you l-l-l-l-l-like t-t-to b-b-b-buy th-th-th-this b-b-b-bible. F-f-for t-t-ten b-b-b-bucks —o-o-o-or— wo-wo-would yo-you j-j-j-just l-like m-m-me t-t-to st-st-stand h-h-here and r-r-r-r-r-read it t-to y-y-you??”

~from a much-forwarded email sent to me by Momma Jessie

Moral of this marketing story: Play to your strengths!

While writing the Making a Million with 1000 True Fans series, I noted that Alexandria Brown’s business model thrives on free live teleseminars and live workshop events. From what I’ve heard she’s an excellent speaker, and while I have many useful skills in my toolbox, public speaking ain’t one of ‘em.

I could overcome my fears and cultivate the skill to speak in front of crowds, but seriously? I’ve got enough to do. At this point in the game, it makes far more sense to play to my strengths when it comes to marketing, and also when creating products and providing services.

Technology will have a key role in this, I feel sure. As James Hipkin reminded me, I can dodge live technical training by recording Flash video tutorials with tools like Captivate and Camtasia. If I want to work teleseminars into my plan, there are scads of Web- and telephone-based services to record my voice in a downloadable digital format. The technology behind those things is a cakewalk for me. But a roomful of strangers hanging on my every word? Not so much!

So if you come across a marketing idea that has a method of execution which doesn’t suit you…there’s no call to change yourself to fit (unless you want to). Instead, brainstorm a way to get the same or similar—or even better!—results using those tried-and-true, super-max-fabulous skills you already have!

Et tu? What are your top strengths? What’s your Kryptonite?

Image credit: striatic • courtesy of Flickr

Yesterday, I was Twittering when I should have been writing. Fortunately, my procrastination was rewarded by a tweet from @etherjammer about Good People Day.

Some deliciously over-the-top wine guy had put out a call to action to tweet, blog, and talk today about the good that people do. If you’re looking for the bad that people do, go Read. The. News. Here today, there’s nothing but good

Finding Good People

From what’s usually in the news (which I avoid reading), it’s easy to believe the worst about the people around you. I don’t know the best places to find Good People in the offline world. Online, however, it’s easy to discover pockets of fun and helpful folks.

The key to finding Good People online is to go where the sharing is. Forums and listgroups and newsgroups and destination apps like Twitter are packed with people who love to answer questions, offer guidance, and give peeks into their world. To me, these are hallmarks of Good People.

I believe bloggers are, for the most part, Good People, based on their commitment to posting thoughts and ideas for the world to see. When I get a chance to interact with bloggers in real-time, it’s clear that they’re Good People in an everyday way, not only when it’s time to post.

Many thanks to the Good People who shared my blog, left the first comment, leave lots of comments, encourage me, and exemplify!

Good People in and around your business
Do you know where to find Good People for your business…those people you would like to partner with, hire, and serve? Equally important: Do you make it easy for Good People to find you?

Do you have criteria to assess the Goodness of the people you find? It can be super-simple, like my “Those Who Share”, or a detailed dossier, as long as it accurately and consistently determines which people are Good for YOU.

Being Good People

Surrounding yourself with Good People is only part of what it’s about. The other bit is being Good People. One way to become Gooder than you currently are is to behave like the Good People you know. Don’t be inauthentic, but do “try on” characteristics that are common to people you consider Good.

As an example, when reflecting on a post about managing my Twitter-verse, I realized that while I intently follow @doshdosh, @problogger, and @SHurleyHall because they share great links, I hadn’t often shared links in my own tweets. That bit of unintentional selfishness was easy to fix, and when I began adding value like the Twits I admire, I was rewarded with more Followers, blog visitors, and subscribers, an invitation or two, and some nifty conversations.

The get back from being Good
Being Good People is about giving, not getting, but we can’t ignore ROI when it comes to your business. Recommendations are the best advertising that money didn’t buy, and are the unmeasurable benefit to being Good People for your customers, employees, coworkers, and family.

When word gets out that you’re Good People, other Good People will find their way to you.

The bad news about Good People

Something I’ve noticed about being surrounded by Good People is Not-So-Good People stand out like poop in a field of poppies. I believe everyone has a seed of Good and it’s either nurtured or not. And while some people have a green thumb for their Good Seed, others seem to mow the little sucker down every time it sprouts into the light of day.

Does your business stand out in the right way?
So when it comes to your business, do you stand out as Good People when you stand among Good People? Or are you the fly in the pudding…someone who makes promises they don’t keep, writes checks they can’t cash (literally and figuratively), and otherwise takes more than they give?

Because if you’re not nurturing your business’ grain of Good with positive actions, words, policies, and products, then you’re probably standing out in a Bad Way to Good People.

Where it’s all Good, all the time

If this dedicated Good day is working for you, subscribe to Happy News and the Good News Network for a daily hearty helping of Good stuff. Also, use Google to find other Good People Day blog posts.

Et tu? From the lips of soul diva Chaka Khan, “Tell me something good!”. Take a mo’ to comment below on all the Good People that you know.

It’s no accident that designers call your coordinated set of business cards, letterhead and forms a “visual identity package”. Your skills and effort are the brains behind the business, but the items you distribute present its unique personality.

This is why it’s critical to have interesting and memorable materials that are uniquely yours.

Beyond Your Inkjet

Still, printing services can be expensive, so most micro-business owners make do with home office tools and materials to save money. Unfortunately, most pieces are printed with run-of-the-mill inkjet printers with lukewarm results. With fuzzy images and indistinct text, they scream “Amateur!” at every reader.

Inkjets are far better than they used to be, but you’re still better off with waterproof, monochrome documents printed with an affordable black-and-white laser printer than color documents printed with one of the better inkjets.

If you want color in your identity package and don’t own a color laser printer, have your pieces printed at Kinko’s, your local quick printer or an online printer like CatPrint.

What’s Inside?

As you’d expect, business cards and letterhead are the key parts of an identity package, but they’re only the beginning. Everything you send to potential or existing clients should coordinate and wear your logo, business name, phone number and website address. Be sure to include your tagline wherever possible:

Typical identity package items:

• Business cards
• Letterhead
• Envelopes
• Return address labels
• Forms

Not-so-typical items:

• Customized Post-Its^®
• Postage stamps
• Mailing labels
• Note cards
• Invitations

Your identity materials are the things that get mailed, dropped off, handed over, passed over, tacked up, referred to, filed and remembered. They speak for you when you aren’t there to speak for yourself, so make sure they’re saying what you want people to hear.

And hey, if you don’t feel up to the challenge of creating your identity package on your own, hire a design pro.

TIP:
If you’re creating an identity package on a tight budget, get fewer cards or sheets rather than settle for cheap paper. Choose one or two colors—instead of or in addition to black—over quantity. If color is unaffordable, try for colored paper. Better to have only a handful of cards on quality paper than a crateful of cards on flimsy stock.

Did I leave anything out? Leave a comment if you think of a something fun and personalize-able to add to an identity package.

Identity Package Links & Books »

Identity Packages On The Web

The Print Guide
The Print Guide has compiled a list of the printing industry’s top suppliers to make shopping for printing services more convenient. Arranged by category (cards and forms, stationery, labels, etc.) with feature articles and an extensive Printing FAQ.

Do-It-Yourself Identity Packages

iPrint
Upload your logo to their site and use their templates and easy-to-use web interface to design your items. If you would rather do your own layout, don’t let the templates on the first pages discourage you-everything is customizable. Online ordering and plenty of shipping options.

Beginner’s Graphic Design Books

Non-Designer’s Design Book, The (3rd Edition)
by Robin Williams

Robin Williams Design Workshop
by Robin Williams

The Big Book of NEW Design Ideas
by David Carter

Do you have a favorite website or book on letterhead and such? Leave a comment to tell us about it…