business-blogging Archives - Page 6 of 8

8 Sales Rules for Writing – No One Kills a Messenger who Writes for Readers

August 28, 2006 by Liz

Poorly Written Messages

In the olden days when there were kings and queens, way before I was born, a business message was sending a runner with message in hand from a battlefield to the king. If the message was good news, the runner might enjoy a feast. If the message was not so good, the king might enjoy seeing the runner run until his life was over.

Even when I was short, that killing the messenger stuff never made much sense to me. It seems like the guys with the messages might figure out what was going on and run the other way, instead of running to the king.

Had I been forced to run messages back then, you can bet I would have found out what the darn message said. Then I’d have figured out a way to write that same message to the king, based on what the king cares about.

That’s what I do for a living — write messages for readers.

So where do sales rules fit in all this?

Mike Sigers Got Me Thinking about Sales Rules

I was at Simplenomics last night, reading Mike Sigers’ post, Mike’s 8 Simple Rules for Repeat Sales, when I realized that everyone is a sales rep. I know. I won’t tell if you don’t tell my husband either.

I’m not making some smoky analogy here. I was a sales rep for the Philips-Van Heusen Shirt Company with a two state territory.

I had a genuine revelation. It came to me that I use my sales training every day and that everyone else uses sales practices too. Granted some of us are a bit better than others at getting them right, but that includes sales reps with training too.

In an email this morning I told Mike I was going to rewrite his post. I explained my reason as everyone is a sales rep. He said:

Wait a minute ?!

Everyone a sales rep ?

Not a freakin’ chance – even you can’t do magic… or can you ?

Let’s turn the page and see how far off I am. [Read more…]

10 +1 Sure-Fire Ways to Get My Best Work — and the Best Work from Everyone — Every Time

August 24, 2006 by Liz

How to Manage Me While I Manage You

I snuck into publishing through the back door. I freelanced first. People asked me to do things. As fast as they asked was how fast I would learn. I was sure that everyone else already knew them.

Then I got my first job as an Executive Editor, and a whole new world view came with it. I had been learning things few people knew. . . . It worked for me. I kind of liked it.

I also saw that most freelancers weren’t like me.

What I saw was that folks who had full-time jobs did more accurate work than freelancers — even when they were the same people. As soon as we hired a freelancer, that person’s work improved to the full-time work standard. That’s when I knew it was us, not them. There was something in what we were doing.

It wasn’t the work. It wasn’t the people.

It was how we put the two together.

I know how you can get my best work every time. Do 10 things, and I can’t help but do a great job for you. Really. [Read more…]

10 + 1 Things to Make Me Love Your Business Email

August 23, 2006 by Liz

Does Your Email Make People Crazy?

How many emails are in your in-box?

How long does it take you to find one you might want?

Do you think about that when you write an email? I’d be delighted if you would.

You may think that email is easy, but I have to tell you. I’m writing this post for a reason. In the last few weeks I’ve gotten some emails that have really concerned me with how folks are doing email business.

Here’s a quote from one:

Dear Liz,

I don’t know you. I’ve never read your blog. Would you come look at mine and see whether I can be an SOB?

I didn’t love that email.

But that’s a gross point. I’ve also picked up some finer points of managing and sending email to business associates that I bet that even you might not have run into. [Read more…]

Business Blogging — Business Writing: Can You See the Elephant on the Net?

August 22, 2006 by Liz

Big Ideas about Communication

I’ve been working on big ideas — how blogging and online communication relates to how enterprises and entrepreneurs communicate in the 3-D world. How might thinking about one help us to be better at the other? What I know from my experience and research is this.

In the act of communication, listening and reading are often undervalued, speaking and writing are often underperformed.

Execution of any process or plan, and success of any business, is entirely dependent upon clear, quick, and complete communication.

Many folks hold other people accountable for making sure communication happens.

Few people actually think about the differences in forms of communication or which is the best in a given situation.

I’ve also figured out one more thing.

If you have a blog, there’s a good chance that you may have brought blogging habits back with you into the business world. That’s not a good idea. Really.

Blogging is bad business writing. Come look. [Read more…]

Great Find: Programmer Meet Designer

August 12, 2006 by Liz

Sharing Skill Sets

This morning Cat Morley started my email day with a lovely link that I have to share with you. If lack of a skill or two is holding you back from getting something done. You simply have to check this one out.

Great Find: Programmer Meet Designer

Permalink: http://programmermeetdesigner.com/index.php

Audience/Topic: Programmers, Designers, Writers, Entrepreneurs

Content: Programmer Meet Designer (PMD) was started because the folks behind it understand that no one person has the complete set of skills needed to do all of the things that it takes to run a business online.

PMD helps programmers and designers partner up to make websites and web applications that look and work great. It also lets entrepreneurs and writers find people to work with.

The search engine asks for my job role, the job role I’m looking for, whether the job is paid or unpaid, and the approximate length of the work.

As you might guess by the title, there are more listings for programmers and designers. However, the site has opened itself to writers and entrepreneurs. I found listings for them, but not nearly as many. To check out Programmer Meet Designer, click the logo below.

It never hurts to take a look at what’s out there.

Thanks again, Cat, for sharing your resources.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Technorati Has a Birthday and We Get the Present!

July 24, 2006 by Liz

Customer-Centered Technorati!

In honor of their third anniversary as a company, Technorati has rolled out a major upgrade. The billboard that Technorati has changed their view to customer-centered is that when you sign in, you’ll find the home page is about you, your blogs, and what you might find interesting — not about Technorati.

I’m already liking these changes.

The Home Page brings what I need together. Everything I use daily is there. I love that the ping is right on top. I can click directly to my indexed posts.
The link counts are a lot more accurate. Thank you.
Favorites makes sense and is easier. I’m MUCH more likely to use Favorites Now.
Technorati Browser Buttons are one reason I’m more likely to use Favorites now.
The Search function is faster and has more filters. I very much like that I can filter by language.
The Search results have extended excerpts. (Show details.) I can take a closer look without having to click through.
The support text is written clearly. That’s a BIG deal to me. Thanks Technorati for getting a great writer to write these bits and pieces. No confusion or ambiguity whatsoever in anything I’ve read so far.
I also love the quieter new layout.

Check out this tool for business blogging, blog promotion, and branding. You can read about it and see a video of the features at Sifry’s Alerts by clicking on this title.

Happy Birthday, Technorati! Thank you, David and Technorati, for the present!

–ME “Liz” Strauss