links for 2006-05-24
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Build your own drag-and-drop buttoms
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Add tags in Microsoft Outlook. In beta now.
links for 2006-05-21
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If you like design, check out these online Design "Magazines"
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Six minutes, six decades of dance. Hilarious!
Soulard Idea Market
Since I returned to St. Louis, I’ve been living in the Soulard Market Lofts, next door (as the name obviously suggests) to the 160 year old Soulard Market. I floated the idea at a recent St. Louis bloggers lunch for a regular LexThink-ish brainstorming, networking, and fun event to be held every month here in Soulard.
I’m working on some basic details, but if you are in St. Louis, and want to connect with some cool, interesting people to discuss business and technology issues, the Soulard Idea Market may be for you. If you are interested, e-mail me at matt @ lexthink.com or leave a comment. We’ll try to get the inaugural one set for late June.
Know What You Don't Know
Ben Folds, from the song “Bastard” on Songs for Silverman:
“Why you got to act like you know when you don’t know?”
How many of us are afraid to admit to a client that we, “just don’t know” the answer? Ben Folds would suggest:
“It’s OK if you don’t know everything.”
It really is. Next time you don’t know, say you don’t know. Your clients may appreciate your candor.
links for 2006-05-19
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What conditions make a city work for startups?
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If you like design, check out these online Design "Magazines"
Legal Widget
How about a dashboard widget (like this one) for tech-savvy clients to request a call/e-mail/im chat from their equally tech-savvy lawyer? Kind of like a legal Bat-Signal.
Edit Your Dictionary
Here are four words to take out of your vocabulary:
I have removed several words from my own “client relations” vocabulary through the advice of friends, colleagues and books I have read over the past few years. These words tend to put the client on edge, and especially for a new client, can form a barrier across the relationship that you are trying to form with them.
The words: Just, Honest, Simple, and Actually. Check out the post for the reasons why. Here’s what the author has to say about simple:
The great thing about the word simple is that it almost always can predict that the future of your statement will be anything but. To say something is simple, implies that it is too small for the client to worry about, but what really ends up happening is that it is usually this item that the client will fixate on because you have tried to downplay it. This word also comes in the synonyms of easy, no problem,and likity split. Yes, I’ve really heard a colleague say that last synonym before!
What words should lawyers take out of their vocabularies?
Why is making a small change so difficult?
Next time you pull out your hair because your spouse, friend, or coworker (or you) can’t seem to change his or her habits, think about this (from Scott Young):
One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made when trying to change habits, is simply in underestimating the amount of conscious focus keeping the habit will take. In many ways, making big changes for diet, exercise or sleep is easier than making a little change because it is too easy to undervalue exactly how much emphasis is required to make the change.
Face to Face wins the Race
Yesterday, I posted on the importance of making house calls. I think that fits in nicely with some things Kathy Sierra has written on the importance of face-to-face interaction. She summarizes a talk at a recent conference by Dr. Thomas Lewis, a psychiatry professor:
One of the key points he made was that we are fooling ourselves into thinking that text is even half as effective as face-to-face at communicating a message.
[Why?] We never had to learn to process body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. We evolved this capability...it's innate. But we had to spend years learning to read and write with any level of sophistication. The brain needs and expects these other--more significant--channels of information, and when they don't come... the brain suffers (and so does the communication). And the problem goes way beyond just an increased chance for misinterpretation.
This is something we all know, but ignore at our peril. Get off the phone. Get clients in your office — or go to theirs. Your message will be better understood in person, you will better connect with your clients, and you will truly hear (and see) what they have to say.
Do You Value What You Do?
Sean D’Souza gives some more advice on pricing. What stood out for me was this quote:
First you must value your own stuff.
Then they’ll value your stuff.
Let me introduce you to ...
Ever wanted to introduce two people, but couldn’t figure out how to send an e-mail to both of them at the same time? Me neither. But if you want to make introducing two people even easier, with some Web2.0 goodness thrown in, check out You Should Meet. If anyone out there knows somebody I should meet, give the (free) service a whirl. My e-mail is Matt “at” LexThink.com. I look forward to meeting them.
Quote of the Day
From the book The Radical Edge: To be successful, you must do "what you love in the service of the people you love, who in turn, love what you do for them."
Wanna Get Your Business on TV?
I just found SpotRunner, a web-based service that will help to put your business on TV. Pick a pre-produced ad, add your name and contact info, choose your network and TV schedule, and go. Very cool, and pretty cheap too. From the website:
It used to be difficult - and expensive - to advertise on television. Only big companies could afford to do it because it involved hiring an ad agency to make the actual ads, and a media buying company to make sure they got on TV at the right time. Now Spot Runner does everything for you, and at a price any business can afford. Here's how:
The Ads: We have a vast library of world-class ads. You choose the ad you want and then personalize it by adding your company name, or images of your products, or details about an upcoming promotion. We charge you for making those personalizations, and for getting your finished ad ready to be broadcast on television.
The TV schedule: Once you've chosen your ad, we help you create an effective schedule of TV networks and times to ensure that your ad is seen by the right people. Then we send off your personalized ad and make sure it runs where and when it's supposed to. Our prices include all the time and effort it takes to do that.
Most ads can only be used by one local business at a time. In other words, once you've purchased your ad no one else in your area can use it. There are some exceptions to this, but when you choose your ad you'll see your options for exclusivity, and you can protect your ad as much or as little as you want.
Do You Make House Calls?
Potential clients feel more comfortable in their offices than in my office, no matter how plush. So it is a good idea to meet them in their office whenever possible. When meeting anywhere else, they tend not to reveal their whole hand.
I understand why some consultants prefer to meet in their own offices -- it increases efficiency. But what I lose in efficiency, I gain in trust and strong connections. I also get to speak to all managers, executives and some employees if necessary -- something that does not always happen if I were holding meetings in my office. If others in the organization see me in action and give positive reports to the owner or other person-in-charge, I have a better chance of acquiring them as a client down the road because they trust me.
links for 2006-05-17
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Could be an interesting client survey tool.
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Is it Happy Hour yet?
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Now, how about giving the pricing on the web page?
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My favorite: #3 Socialize with others of similar interest. Mutual support is motivating. We will develop the attitudes of our five best friends. If they are losers, we will be a looser. If they are winners, we will be a winner. To be a cowboy we must as
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Check out the laser scissors.
Lessons for Ford, and for Lawyers
In The Truth About Cars, Robert Farago offers up his prescription for an ailing Ford:
You want bold moves? Kill Jaguar. Kill Mercury. Sell Volvo. Sell Mazda. Sell Land Rover. Cut half the remaining models and plow money into the ones that survive. Re-invigorate your rear-wheel drive, box-frame car with new sheetmetal, a bad-ass motor and a killer cabin. Build a world-beating Lincoln luxury sedan. Make the Ford Focus the world’s best small car. Get the Explorer’s mileage into the mid-20’s. Develop a more powerful engine than the Hemi and stick it into everything-- including a new minivan. Set SVT loose on the entire model line-up. OWN quality interiors. Don't badge engineer ANYTHING.
Lose the glass fishbowl; redesign Ford showrooms to look like a modern retail outlet. Trim the dealer network and sell cars on the web. Undercut everyone’s price with every vehicle. Interact with every single customer on a regular basis via internet. Institute no-haggle pricing. Make financing cheaper. Drop 80% of your print budget and dominate the web. Do it all, and do it all at once-- regardless of cost. Then sell value for money. Ford: the best car money can buy.
Imagine a big law firm (or any law firm) making similar moves. What would that advice be, and what would the resulting law firm look like?
More Speaking Tips from Bert Decker
Bert Decker has several great recent posts that have been sitting in my “to blog” folder. I’m going to lump them together here:
The Power of the Pause: Practice pausing. Non-words are just pause fillers, and extend beyond the typical “um” and “uh” to “you knows,” “ands,” “okays,” “right” and the like. All anyone has to do is practice leaving pauses of two or three seconds after each sentence. In this exercise the speaker will at first feel the pauses are excruciatingly long.
Quick Tip: The Rule of 40: Whenever there are more than 40 people in a room of any size, use a microphone.
Impact with Technology: Remembering that you are the presentation, develop visuals that enhance your point of view. After all, visuals are important:
- 55% of believability comes through the visual
- A 500% average increase in retention occurs when visuals are used in a presentation
- 83% of what we know is learned by seeing and observing
If you do presentations or public speaking, Bert’s blog has to be on your “must read” list.
Crayon Your Way to Better Presentations?
Here’s an interesting tip from the Sales Presentation Training Blog:
Write your entire presentation out and then get some colored markers. For example, for all the facts that you have written down, highlight them in red. Next, color all your humor in green. Lastly, color all your audience participation in blue.
Ok, now step back and look at your work of art. What, you don't see any green for humor? Where is the blue, for audience participation? Even if you are giving a sales presentation to manage $50 million dollars for a pension fund, you will be amazed by the audiences receptivity if you make the presentation about them. Red is a nice color but make sure your presentation has some green and blue to involve your audience.
Try the same thing with your marketing materials. Use highlight all of the sentences talking about you (your technology, your offices, your expertise) in red, and all of the sentences talking about your clients (their needs, their testimonials, their satisfaction) in green. Too much red? Maybe you need some new marketing materials.