I was reading this article from our local business magazine and came across this phrase which was new to me (emphasis mine):

Twin Cities television viewers are most drawn to sports, comedies and dramas, and they’re increasingly using digital video recorders and other time-shifting technologies to watch their favorite programs, according to Comcast Corp.’s second annual “TV Pulse Survey.”

I would argue that Taleo is a “time-shifting technology,” if you get my drift.

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A sentence I just read in a laptop battery warranty statement:

We are happy to send a replacement when you receive a defective item from us.

“when”!?!

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Inc.com offers up a timely article regarding employee blogging and the different pitfalls for companies who allow it.  Honestly, I haven’t put as much thought into this topic as the writer.  I did find these 10 points interesting (thought I don’t follow them):

1.    Remind employees to familiarize themselves with the employment agreement and policies included in the employee handbook before they begin blogging.
2.    State that the policy applies to both blogs for the company and personal blogs.
3.    Blog posts should not disclose any information that is confidential or proprietary to the company or to any third party that has disclosed information to the company.
4.    If an employee comments on any aspect of the company’s business they must clearly identify themselves as an employee in the blog posting and include a disclaimer.
5.    The disclaimer should be something like “the views expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of (your companies name).
6.    Blog posts should not include company logos or trademarks.
7.    Blog posts must respect copyright, privacy, fair use, financial disclosure, and other applicable laws.
8.    Employees should neither claim nor imply that they are speaking on the company’s behalf.
9.    Corporate blogs (located on your company website) require approval when the employee is blogging about the company and the industry.
10.    That the company reserves the right to request the certain subjects are avoided, withdraw certain posts and remove inappropriate comments.

Blogs open up a new liability for companies in that the information is disseminated to a large audience in an almost uncontrollable media.  Clearly employees are restrained by their potential termination if they cross a line.  I always think of the recently terminated employees – the restraining thought of termination is no longer in effect.

That leads to some interesting posts…to say the least.

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Saleshq.com offers up tricks for telecommuters in this article.  There are some solid points like this:

5. Communication

It’s very easy to forget the outside world when you work from home. While you do get to avoid the intricacies of corporate politics, it also means that you have to be your own advocate.

Make sure there are multiple ways for your boss and colleagues to contact you. Check your email frequently, and respond as immediately as you can. Keep your phone at hand, and make sure you call if there’s an office meeting. An instant messaging service works well for open communication if something changes last minute. For more long distance projects, make use of free video conferencing tools like Skype.

This fact is mission-critical.  One of my customers has a remote salesperson who works in the same small town as the office, but she telecommutes.  I’m not sure why, but that is a topic for another post.  Anyway, one of the things she has expertly established is her lack of availability during the work day.  What I mean is that the office can never get her on the phone during the day.  Cell phone, home phone…it doesn’t matter, their calls always end up in voicemail.

I find this fact appalling, but my customer tolerates it.  What I believe this does is free her up to do other activities during goal time for selling.  The office has now become accustomed to not reaching her on the phone so they think nothing of it.

If you manage telecommuters, you must have a communication channel (cell, text, IM, etc.) that always allows access to them.

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You heard me right, that is an indirect quote from this Inc.com article.  This topic comes up often in our sales hiring activities as the conventional wisdom is that extroverts make better salespeople.  Not true.  Successful salespeople have a wide variety of abilities that go far beyond their communication style.  And that is the point here, introvert/extrovert is more of a communication style than anything else.  It is important to know a salesperson’s style, but it is not predictive of sales success.

Here is some excellent advice from the article (emphasis mine):

“When selling as an introvert, use your abilities as a good researcher to really know audience, know what matters to them, and figure out a product match before you go in. You’ll be meeting with people, so rest up before social interactions with those you are selling to or speaking in front of. Prepare and practice because as an introvert you will think before you speak – as opposed to extroverts who speak as they think. So having a few lines ready, or thoughts composed in advance will be beneficial. Rest, prepare and practice is the magic formula because of the way introverts are wired.”

Extroverts need to start talking to get to their point.  Introverts have to think of their response before they speak.  This point is never more obvious than when you are interviewing sales candidates.  When I sit in on interviews with my customers, I always make sure to tell them if the candidate is more extroverted or introverted.

My experience is this – an introverted hiring manager will be unimpressed by an extroverted sales candidate in terms of communication.  The hiring manager has a tendency to comment on the candidate’s rambling answers, long-windedness and tangential topics.  At this point I explain that the candidate is extroverted and needs to start talking to get to his or her response.  If they are strongly extroverted, they will have to rev up their answer a bit before delivering the point.  This isn’t necessarily a weakness, it is simply a style issue.

I have seen a recent rise of the introvert in one key sales area – relationship selling.  The reason is this:

Introverts do well with deep relationships and conversations rather than chit-chat.

If you have a relatively long or extended sales cycle, an introverted selling style is probably a more natural fit for your sale’s requirements.  As sales move away from one-call closes and on to relationship-based deals, introverts will play a prominent part in a sales team’s success.

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Full confession – I despise meetings.  I have spent much of my career sitting through insanely inefficient meetings – I prefer to call them “boil the ocean” meetings.  The topics in these meetings usually lacked clarity and focus so the meeting would drift…badly.  Of course, when your boss is sitting in the meeting (or worse, was the one who called it) it is difficult to exit early.

But alas, I have found an inspiring article with a fantastic idea.  This is from Inc.com (emphasis mine):

“Interaction should be constant, not crammed into meetings once a week. You just turn around in your chair and bounce an idea off one of the other 10 people in your office. Keep the floor plan open so people can talk to each other. As the company gets bigger, keep dividing it into smaller and smaller groups. Follow Jeff Bezos’s two-pizza rule: Project teams should be small enough to feed with two pizzas. At Hunch, we don’t have meetings unless absolutely necessary. When I used to have meetings, though, this is how I would do it: There would be an agenda distributed before the meeting. Everybody would stand. At the beginning of the meeting, everyone would drink 16 ounces of water. We would discuss everything on the agenda, make all the decisions that needed to be made, and the meeting would be over when the first person had to go to the bathroom.”

Caterina Fake is the co-founder of the photo-sharing site Flickr. Her new start-up is Hunch, a website in New York City that takes user input to make recommendations on thousands of subjects.

“When I used to have meetings…” – fantastic.  If I were there, I would drink a pot of coffee myself before heading into that meeting.

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From Shine on Yahoo comes one of those surveys that makes me think we are over-surveying (emphasis mine):

…96% of Americans report experiencing rudeness at work, and 48% say they are treated uncivilly at least once a week.

This kind of manners meltdown can have a direct effect on the bottom line. According to surveys conducted by Pearson and her colleagues, 48% of poorly treated employees have intentionally decreased their productivity and 12% say the boorish behavior compelled them to quit. Workplace rudeness costs employers an average of $50,000 per worker. “There are very high costs associated with even seemingly inconsequential inconsiderate words and actions,” adds Pearson.

Insert yawn here (maybe that was “boorish behavior” on my part).  $50K per worker due to rudeness?  Where does that number come from?  I have a hard time believing that one.

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I received a PR email notifying me of a 3-part series starting tonight on Nightly Business Report. Here are the details:

“Social Networking”

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Similar to the introduction of TV in the 1950’s, social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter are rapidly becoming a core component of many Americans’ daily lives.  But where businesses could easily impact the American consumer through TV advertisements, the road map for marketing through social networking is a bit more complex. The rules are certainly different, but as NBR’s Scott Gurvey finds out: the rewards may be even greater.

Tuesday 1/26: Pt. 1 – In part 1, NBR reveals some of the basic ground rules for companies participating in the world of social networking.

Wednesday 1/27: Pt. 2 – Businesses large and small use social networking in different ways.  In part 2, NBR digs deeper into the unwritten rules of social networking by examining recent campaigns from Pepsi and Fetch Pet Care.

Thursday 1/28: Pt. 3 – In part 3, NBR examines the multiplier effect of social networking along with some helpful advice on dealing with consumer complaints.

I have the DVR set and may I suggest you do the same?  Perhaps this short series will change my perspective on Twitter.

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I know the Twitterheads are going to flame this, but I have to agree with Ricky Gervais:

But after composing only five Tweets, Gervais gave up on January 9, telling his 13,000 followers he was going to stop his updates because “I don’t see the point.” He followed up with an explanation on his blog, calling Twitter “undignified.” (As opposed, say, to David Brent dance.)

“I just don’t get it, I’m afraid,” Gervais wrote. “I’m sure it’s fun as a networking device for teenagers but there’s something a bit undignified about adults using it. Particularly celebrities who seem to be showing off by talking to each other in public.”

I have not invested much time into Twitter so I have probably a comparable amount of knowledge regarding it as Mr. Gervais.

Flame on.

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Here is one from the weekly Herman Trend Alert of which I was not familiar:

“corporate cocooning” – staying put out of fear

A rather appropriate construction for today’s economy, wouldn’t you say?  Here is the paragraph from which it is used:

Due to “corporate cocooning” (staying put out of fear), the “unprecedented churning” of the labor market we have forecast in the past has not yet happened. Now, we again see a high level of expectation of job hopping. Wise employers will heed this warning and take steps now to engage their valued employees and avoid this unwanted turnover.

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