Scot's Field Notes

Voyager Pro HD: Skype, iPhone, Laptop, Desktop

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:00:00 -0400

I never thought you would find me wearing a Bluetooth Headset.

Honestly, I despised them and the people who walk around in public like zombies talking to themselves or always queued up for that next super-duper important business call they can’t miss.

Reality is I am on the phone a lot during the week:

I use my cell phone during the morning on my commute to my office to get in calls before I get locked in to a work day.
I use a desk phone during the day at my office to call customers and prospective customers.
I use my cell phone again on the commute back home usually finishing up and closing out the work day, and then into the night hours via Skype with friends and colleagues or my mom.

I’ve always wanted the freedom from my Logitech wired headset but never considered an alternative due to it’s high quality audio recording and the fact that it had never really sunk in that I needed a better solution that would fit my workday and needs better.

I opted for the Plantronics Voyager HD Pro, and here’s why:

I wanted something that was visibly a headset when others looked me in the face so that they knew I was on the telephone without having a huge boom like the headsets we use in call centers.
I had to have a headset that was rechargeable. Some of my friends have to replace AAA batteries every week. I use it a lot.
I needed something that could easily transfer duties from Desktop to Laptop to iPhone without a hassle.
It had to be lightweight and comfortable with only 1 ear piece. My old Logitech headset was fantastic but I like having my secondary ear open in case I’m talking and walking, or doing other activities at work and home/in the car. I have to be aware of my surroundings.
It had to have good noise cancellation, high quality audio, and good battery life.

After one month, the Plantronics Voyager HD Pro seems to fit the bill in all of the above areas. The only miss is in audio quality while talking over my cell phone on the road. On 3G you’re just not going to get a great recordable-quality call regardless of the headset.

I’ve compared with my Plantronics wired headset and the bottleneck is in the connection.

With Bluetooth I am able to go from Skype PC to Skype Mobile to Cell call to Laptop. I’m able to easily adjust the volume with it’s hard controls on the headset. I’m able to quickly understand battery life and talk time with it’s voice controls. My iPhone has a separate battery life meter showing me a visual representation of talk time as well.

Finally I’m able to roam hands-free (up to 30 feet from my connected devices) with my headset whether I’m taking a call via Skype, Ringio or otherwise. The Skype mobile app even supports Bluetooth!

I’m still not one of those annoying Bluetooth Headset guys. The size of the small boom reminds me to remove it before entering public places where I’d much rather pick up my cell phone if I need to place a short call.

If you’re still wired in to Skype and chained to your work space, I recommend checking out the Plantronics Voyager HD Pro.

→ Plantronics Voyager HD Pro: $74.99
→ USB Bluetooth Dongle (for PC’s without built-in Bluetooth technology): $2.75
→ Skype (iPhone app & Desktop app with Nationwide & Canada) $2.99
→ Google Voice (Show your number on Caller ID when you’re calling from Skype): Free

Tonight I showed Mal a trick someone taught me long ago— how to...

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 21:17:25 -0400

Tonight I showed Mal a trick someone taught me long ago— how to pack a belt with dress shoes.

The belt holds the shoe in place so as not to fold while staying rolled up as to not stretch or scratch in your luggage. Just a quick tip :)

Welcoming A New Adventure

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 13:26:00 -0400

The following post was originally posted in our private Entrepreneur and Successful Professionals Group on Facebook: → Super Duper Friends. If you think you might be interested in similar posts from other successful professionals, please request access.

Hi SDF’s, I hope your Sunday is relaxing and you have some time to read this lengthy post & contribute to what I hope is a helpful response. Especially if you have experience in Insurance/Auto Insurance. I’m stepping out into a new venture tomorrow.

I’m starting my Insurance business Monday. I’m going to go to a month-long training and licensing class and expect to be placed in my Agency within 30-60 days after this Monday. → Gary Zaydman asks me why I’m doing this, it’s not because I’m crazy. It’s because I have always wanted to defeat this challenge and see if I like Insurance. If I like it I can see myself becoming wealthy while adding value to the lives of employees and my community.

Now that I’ve laid that foundation, I have a lot of thinking to do. I chose to start out in Non-Standard Auto. This is my first foray in the industry period, and I look forward to getting licensed, learning the business, understanding how to operate a small agency in terms of P&L and managing a small number of employees I will be walking into the office with one employee who is currently licensed and operating the agency but does not have the aptitude to be an Agent.

She will assist me in business operations and when we start growing I plan to add another and hire a “Producer” or salesperson to handle sales activities for me as well. I am working for Acceptance Insurance which basically provides the location and HR department. All operating expenses are on me.

I have invested a small amount (not capital) in this without getting in too deep because I believe in my ability to overcome these milestones I’ve set in my mind. I’ve wanted an Insurance agency for years and I just so happened into the opportunity by accident. Regardless…

(The location I’m starting out at only has 400 policies on the books and has been stagnant for years. I believe in the research I’ve done in the area and know I can double this within 24 months.)

My general (initial, before understanding the business… as I’m sure it will change) is to:

a) understand the business and operations of a small agency while in the training class I’m traveling to this month.

b) train and optimize the employee working there now or hire someone else if need-be.

c) create relationships and jv with other businesses which are already serving my clientele. I’ve talked with a business owner across the highway from this location who owns a Rent-To-Own (introduced by → Brian Barber) who has somewhere near 400 active contracts at his small location.

I also plan to JV with buy-here pay-here auto dealerships who require their (my) customers to maintain insurance on the vehicles they purchase. I will hire a rep to stay on top of these customers eventually and provide value to the car dealership owners in that we will stay on top of their customers to make sure they stay insured (and that are fees are collected and renewed as well.)

d) aggressively collect premiums on a 1-month and 6-month basis. I plan to have my rep calling on the 1-month cycle and I will make the 6-month renewal calls.

e) partner with a sub-prime lender to give my customers an additional option for cash-flow in paying their premiums. This could be a cash-lender, Title Pawn, Pawn Shop, or other short-term lending partner. I also plan to partner with someone who is able to cash Government checks to remove all friction in cash-flow requirements for my customers.

d) create a persona for myself and my agency as, “the nice, but serious guys.” I don’t want to present a portrait of myself wearing a suit and tie, but more friendly and serious about making sure my customers are taken care of. My hope is to reduce fears of talking to me if my customer cannot pay their premiums where I can refer them to one of my cash-flow partners to put capital toward their premiums.

e) capitalize on the book of business I’m walking into. My absolute skill lies in database optimization, up and cross-selling, and re-building relationships. I believe this book of business along with my Commercial partnerships will let us grow steadily for the first 12 months easily.

d) Partner with other Insurance Agencies who may not be able to sponsor policies for customers who fit my client. ie) credit problems, dui, multiple accidents, etc.

Now, my question to you all is if I should consider other options and ideas before coming into this thing fresh tomorrow. I plan to continue to update as I become more integrated in the business and I’m sure I’ll be reaching out again, but let me know what you think.

Here’s to our success…

"No, I’m not a competitive businessman at all. I don’t believe in doing business to..."

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 18:25:00 -0400

“

No, I’m not a competitive businessman at all. I don’t believe in doing business to compete. Telling me you offer a competitive price or competitive Service/Product tells me you’re still too confused to offer me the level of quality I deserve as a prospective client of yours.

I don’t believe in doing business with “competitors,” if you’re not dominating the market, you’re a wimp and who wants to partner with a wimp?

”

- Scot Smith

Hacking Google Docs: Website Uptime Monitor

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:28:11 -0400

Hacking Google Docs: Website Uptime Monitor

Why?

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 21:32:00 -0400

The next time you are making a professional decision, stop for a moment and just ask yourself, “Why?” Continue asking until you can’t anymore and you’ll know if you’re wasting your time or driving business growth before you get into it.

I’m going to make a blog. Why?
I want to create an additional funnel in my Inbound Marketing Plan. Why?
I want to increase the amount and quality of contacts in my pipeline. Why?

More qualified and higher-quality contacts help me grow my business.
That’s fine.

It’s as simple as just asking, “Why?”

Notes From Total Business Mastery

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 21:30:00 -0400

1. Clarify
Develop absolute clarity about who you are, what you want, and the best way to achieve it

2. Simplify
Delegate, outsource and eliminate all low value, no value tasks and activities in your life

3. Maximize
Determine your special talents, abilities and strengths and focus on developing them to a higher level

4. Multiply
Leverage yourself and your business with other people’s customers, knowledge, abilities, efforts, money and resources

Easy Customer Database Management With Pipedrive

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 08:50:00 -0400

Pipedrive’s Filters makes basic and intermediate Customer Database Queries a breeze with it’s Cross-Filtering ability.

As an example, here I’ve created a Filter to display All Organizations in my Customer Database that have an e-mail address on file, but not a Contact Name.

In this example I might want to Export all matching Organizations, Import them into my e-mail marketing software and schedule Auto-Responders to e-mail forms to my customer to update this information for me automatically.

Pipedrive’s API makes this kind of Customer Interface Automation possible.

Thanks to this, I’ve been able to successfully kick-off campaigns to improve and update our Customer Database/Customer Intel without doing much of the legwork myself.

Here is a sample Use Case of my general flow getting our Customer Database in shape:

Create Filter in Pipedrive to query all Organizations that have an e-mail on file, AND have other Contact variables (we’ve defined at import such as Contact Name, Store Type, Buyer Class, etc.) BLANK.
Export resulting Organizations to .CSV format
Import CSV to VelocityMail E-mail Marketing Software
Set up an auto-responder series in my e-mail marketing software that defines the volume and scheduled delivery dates for contacting customers with missing contact information.
Set up a Landing Page Form Submit where the recipients are directed to for updating any missing contact information. This is linked on the back-end using Pipedrive’s API to automatically update the Customer Database when submitted.
Continue until it no longer makes sense.
Create Filter in Pipedrive to query all Organizations that DON’T have an e-mail address on file but DO have a Mailing Address
Export this list to Microsoft Excel
Mailmerge to automate Direct Mail Campaign asking Organization to update their profile with us Online with a with Call-To-Action driving them back to the Landing Page Form Submit connected to the Customer Database & Pipedrive via API.
Create Filter in Pipedrive to query all Organizations that haven’t responded, export to new Deal Pipeline, Assign to Sales Rep to contact the Organization directly via telephone.

Creating work flows where time equals money is why this is such a great tool. As a business owner, I would much rather my Sales Team be spending their time engaging in revenue-creating and asset-growing activities. Automating as much of the Customer Database Update Process as possible helps us do just that.

Using A Daily Routine To Stay Organized

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 06:47:55 -0400

Using A Daily Routine To Stay Organized

4 Steps To Making Decisions With No Regrets

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 06:41:00 -0400

4 Steps To Making Decisions With No Regrets

Coaching Vs Managing - Are You A Coach?

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 06:38:00 -0400

Coaching Vs Managing - Are You A Coach?

Building A Killer Marketing Campaign - 10 Steps

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 06:34:00 -0400

Building A Killer Marketing Campaign - 10 Steps

CampaignMonitor: Profitable & Proud

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 05:33:00 -0400

CampaignMonitor: Profitable & Proud

Using Formstack & QR Codes For A Punch Clock

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 04:48:02 -0400

Using Formstack & QR Codes For A Punch Clock

Send a personal Thank You card 10x more than you think you...

Thu, 17 May 2012 23:08:13 -0400

Send a personal Thank You card 10x more than you think you should.

If only bags of money were this easy to create in real life.

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 05:22:12 -0400

If only bags of money were this easy to create in real life.

Wordpress Dashboard Hacks - Remove Menu Items

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 11:26:00 -0500

Want to remove menu items from the Wordpress dashboard? This comes in especially handy for clients/friends/family that may be distracted by too many menu items, or just don’t have a need to use specific menu choices in the Worpress dashboard.

Simply paste the following code in the functions.php file from your theme directory:

function remove_menus () {
global $menu;
	$restricted = array(__('Dashboard'), __('Posts'), __('Media'), __('Links'), __('Pages'), __('Appearance'), __('Tools'), __('Users'), __('Settings'), __('Comments'), __('Plugins'));
	end ($menu);
	while (prev($menu)){
		$value = explode(' ',$menu[key($menu)][0]);
		if(in_array($value[0] != NULL?$value[0]:"" , $restricted)){unset($menu[key($menu)]);}
	}
}

add_action(‘admin_menu’, ‘remove_menus’);

This will remove all menus named in the $restricted array.
Read more at → 10 Wordpress Dashboard Hacks.

Restrictions - New Timeline For Business Pages

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:20:00 -0500

Cover Photo for pages:
Must be at least 399 pixels wide and up to 850 pixels wide. Height looks like 315 pixels.

Important note to Fanpage owners!
The Cover Photo cannot contain:

• Price or purchase information (such as 40% off or Download it on our site.)
• Contact info such as web address, email, mailing address or info for the About section.
• References to user interface elements, such as Like and Share.
• Calls to action, such as “Get it Now” or “Tell Your Friends”

From → Facebook:

All cover images are → public, which means anyone visiting your Page will be able to see the image you choose. Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property. You may not encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines.

5 Easy SEO Tips That Will Help You Stop Losing Traffic Today

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:37:00 -0500

I was recently invited on the → A Closer Look Radio With Pam Atherton radio show which will be airing this Thursday, March 1st.

We covered several topics on Local Internet Marketing, including an intro in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Here are a few of the points that were mentioned:

#1 Optimize Title & Meta Tags
Your HTML Title & HTML Meta Tags should be different on every page of your website if you really want to give Google something to talk about. Content Management Systems (CMS’) such as → Wordpress have plugins that are able to do this for you automatically based on the subject of each blog post.

Meta Tags are much less important now that Google has discontinued supporting them as an attribute to help determine a website’s relevance.

Your HTML Title should include keywords in which you want to appear in Search results for. If I wanted to be found for, “Atlanta Web Design” I would certainly begin my HTML Title Tag attribute with exactly that keyword phrase.

#2 Optimize Heading & Sub-Headings
Pam brought up a great point. Your website is like a resume, and just as in writing a resume or CV, the important and relevant content should be pronounced. Search Engines are ultimately designed by people just like you and I.

Headings & Sub-Headings should take advantage of the HTML formatting tags <H1>, <H2>, <H3>, <strong>, and <em> to show Google and other Search Engines what content is most important and relevant on your pages.

These should ideally be automated with CSS style sheets and your CMS of choice (Wordpress is great for this as well!)

#3 Use Title & Alt HTML Tags For Images
Pam brought up a great point in that graphic-intensive and Flash websites can’t be read by Google or other Search Engines.

It’s important to include title & alt tags in every image on your website to help search engines understand what is being displayed on your website, as well as for usability requirements for the hard-of-seeing and other disabled users wanting to use your website. A plugin for Wordpress I love to death that automates this process (even retroactively) is → SEO Friendly Images.

#4 Optimize Inbound & Outbound Links
Links pointing internally and externally alike should include an HTML Title tag. You should also consider the anchor text used when linking to internal and external pages. We talked on the show about how Google determines relevancy partly based on the anchor text in links pointing to content.

This means if you are linking to a page about Scot Smith;
Correct: About Scot Smith
Incorrect: Want to know about Scot Smith? Click here!

The first link tells Search Engines the link I’ve posted should be “About Scot Smith.”
The second link tells Search Engines the link I’ve posted should be about “Click Here!”

#5 Optimize File Nomenclatures
This includes images, audio & media, page names, and any other file. It’s very important that if you are using Wordpress as your CMS that you have → Permalinks turned on and configured correctly.

This means that a URL structured as:

http://www.acloserlookradio.com/?p=1234

will be far less understandable to Search Engines like Google, and also much more difficult to share by humans than:

http://www.acloserlookradio.com/one-minute-manager-author-ken-blanchard-february-9-2012.html

The same applies for audio, video, and image file names. Any file uploaded to your website should be named to define the file.

Thank you Pam for the invitation and I look forward to coming back soon!

Follow A Closer Look Radio on Twitter at @RadioWithIQ or visit them online at → A Closer Look Radio.

Twitter Is More Than Meets The Eye... If You're Careful

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:30:00 -0500

You’ve heard how you should use Twitter as a tool to add value, help others, grow your Rolodex of contacts in your vertical.

But, what’s the easiest, cut-to-the-chase method for using Twitter for Lead Generation?

I’m enjoying Twitter more and more lately (follow me @revvenue!) as I’ve gotten a handle on putting it to work for me— I will say one thing: It’s not a channel that works without a bit of sweat equity, a sincere interest in helping others and adding value, and some dedication to replying in a timely manner.

How easy is it to make a contact on Twitter?

A complete interaction from introduction to goal-conversion.

My goal when reaching out on Twitter is to secure a strong contact that I can help or that can help me in doing business online. I don’t get on Twitter pitching my business or services to random Twitter users who I’ve found that fit the profile.

Here is my Twitter Sales Funnel:

Goal 1: Find Twitter users talking about problems I can assist them with, or I need help with. (Pre-Qualify)
I use Streamboard to plug in variables and easily find live conversations on any subject-matter at any time of day. You can also use Twitter Search if you don’t mind losing a bit of functionality.

→   Conversion. Move to next step in funnel.

Goal 2: Get a DM from that Twitter User
Below you’ll learn I’ve creatively merged two goals in getting a Follow + DM.

→  Conversion. Move to next step in funnel.

Goal 3: Qualify and score lead or contact quickly
Have a conversation with this person via telephone or e-mail to qualify and move prospect from Twitter Pipeline to wherever I want them to go in my Sales Cycle.

→  Conversion. Move to next step in funnel.

Once you’re able to apply such a funnel and only focus on accomplishing a single goal at a time before moving forward, Twitter quickly increases it’s ability as a worthy tool in your Acquisition Arsenal.

You can use this method for not only lead generation, but reverse lead generation in finding others who know how to solve your problems just the same.

THE TAKEAWAY

→  Create short, mini conversion goals for each step in the conversion process.

→ Each step should move the process only one step forward in your sales funnel.

→  Don’t try to use Twitter for Lead Generation if you don’t have time for ADDING VALUE & GENUINE INTEREST.

→ Twitter is a cracked-out version of e-mail. If you’re not careful in organizing and prioritizing what you want, you’ll quickly be consumed in a cross-fire of interactions without a metric to benchmark what you’re getting back from your investment.

Here’s a million-dollar golden nugget tip: Make sure whoever you’re reaching out to is truly interested in adding you to their own network by asking for a DM (Direct Message) before following them on Twitter. This requires them to ASK PERMISSION for you to contact them directly.

I don’t care much about push/pull marketing, to be honest— I generally focus on only adding value, but this is a terrific tip for a bit of push/pull to qualify contacts on Twitter; where you can often-times find yourself in a somewhat hectic cross-fire of communication.