Today, AnyMeeting kicked off the new “Small Business Toolkit” webinar series with “Rapport Tactics that Instantly Build Relationships.” The webinar was presented by sales and marketing expert, Michael Halper and provided eight valuable tactics to consider when building relationships with potential business prospects.
If you were not able to attend Michael’s webinar and would like to view the recording, just click here.
By Joshua Zerkel, Custom Living Solutions
THIS IS A SPECIAL GUEST POST BY ONE OF OUR ANYMEETING USERS. WANT TO WRITE FOR THE ANYMEETING BLOG? GET THE DETAILS.
We all have ideas floating around our brains and tasks that we need to get to.
For many of us, the way we keep track of them is by collecting these bits into lists – sometimes many, many lists. In recent years, there have been new productivity approaches that suggest creating lists for the various contexts of your life – work (with subdivisions), personal (with subdivisions), and so on. While this can be great for keeping your tasks organized, this approach may have some downsides:
Multiple lists can be confusing. When you have more than a couple lists to keep track of, it can be hard to remember what item was on which list. You may also spend time splitting hairs trying to decide which list is the very best fit for a particular item or task. Too many lists is similar to having too many files in your filing system – when you have lots of small divisions, sometimes it’s hard to decide where to place an item that really could live in either place. If you find yourself hemming and hawing over deciding which of two similar lists your task belongs to, try streamlining or combining any closely-related lists.
More lists often equal more stress. It’s hard to wrap your head around the entirety of what you have going on and the tasks you have to juggle when you have more than a few lists that your tasks are spread across. I’ve worked with people with nearly a dozen lists, including the ever-present “someday” list, who, after going through and trying to prioritize their tasks, feel completely stressed out. It’s no wonder – there are too many things to do, spread among too many different places. If having multiple lists stresses you out or leaves you feeling overwhelmed, try whittling your lists down to just a few, and see if that feels more manageable for you.
List management becomes a task unto itself. This is the biggest danger I see with the multiple-list approach to to-do management, as you may end up spending a fair amount of time managing your lists and your tasks rather than actually completing them. Unless you are a project manager, you should focus on making headway on your tasks rather than shuffling and reshuffling your lists. In my experience, there’s a sort of organizing nirvana that happens when people feel their lists are “just right” – after spending a fair chunk of time organizing and reorganizing the lists, of course. And while feeling like you’re on top of the organization of your tasks is great, I think it’s even better if you actually make headway on or even complete a task or tasks instead of just organizing them. Don’t be fooled – while having the “perfect list” can be satisfying, you’ll be even more satisfied by making progress on your tasks. Organizing a list is NOT the same as actually getting something done!
Now, don’t get me wrong – lists, when used well, can be useful tools for collecting and organizing your thoughts, your priorities, and your tasks. Just be careful that your lists are working well for you, and that you’re not spending lots of your time managing them.
Instead, your lists should be supportive tools that you spend just enough time on to help you move closer to completing the right tasks.
Editor’s Note: This article is brought to you by AnyMeeting, the completely free web conferencing and webinar service. Use AnyMeeting for your next online meeting.
Congratulations to the winner of our Google Apps Marketplace Review and Win giveaway:
Monica from Phoenix, AZ
Thanks to all the people that tried the app and left a review. We received over 50 reviews for the AnyMeeting free web conferencing app and it sounds like you like the product. We even got a 5 star rating. Bear in mind the giveaway was for giving a review – it did not need to be positive. But we are glad they were.
Join us on Wednesday, January 25th at 11 am PST for the first free webinar of our “Small Business Toolkit” webinar series in 2012, and learn rapport tactics that will help you establish solid relationships with your potential business prospects. This webinar will provide helpful insight and tips on building rapport, and will be hosted by industry expert, Michael Halper. Michael is an established sales and marketing professional, author and founder of Launch Pad Solutions, a sales consulting firm.
All registrants will receive a free copy of Michael’s eBook, “The Cold Calling Equation – PROBLEM SOLVED.”
Only 200 spots are available – so register today. Make sure you log in to the webinar early – attendance is on a first-come, first –served basis. For more information and to register, visit: AnyMeeting.com/webinars.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA–(Marketwire – Jan 18, 2012) – AnyMeeting, the completely free web conferencing and webinar service, today announced that sales and marketing expert Michael Halper will kick off the first webinar of 2012 for AnyMeeting’s “Small Business Toolkit” webinar series. An established industry professional with an extensive background in sales and marketing, Michael Halper will present his webinar on Wednesday, January 25th at 11 am PST titled, “Rapport Tactics that Instantly Build Relationships.” See the complete press release on MarketWire.
By Anita Hovey, Twirp Communications
THIS IS A SPECIAL GUEST POST BY ONE OF OUR ANYMEETING USERS. WANT TO WRITE FOR THE ANYMEETING BLOG? GET THE DETAILS.
In every workshop or presentation I give around Halifax I always tell people NOT to auto-post their tweets to Facebook or vice versa. It’s a great time-saver, of course, so people are always miffed to learn that they are sacrificing engagement for time. Here are three quick reasons why you shouldn’t auto-post your tweets to Facebook.
Twitter and Facebook audiences are very different
While there may be some cross over between your fans on each platform, for the most part they are probably two very different audiences. People tend to gravitate to one platform or the other (except those absurd social media geeks like yours truly who use every platform available). On Facebook your readers are looking for more detail, not just witty little one-liners. Tweets post with much greater frequency as well and that might just turn off your Fans to the point of un-liking your page.
Hashtags don’t tranlate into Facebook
People will choose to follow you on their social network of choice. If they follow you on Facebook, they don’t want to feel like Facebook is second fiddle to Twitter. If Twitter is your main social network you probably use a lot of TwitSpeak and hashtags. Your fans and friends on Facebook don’t want to see that. If they did, they would join you on Twitter. Along with hashtags, tagging profiles doesn’t translate into Facebook. So, when you tag another Twitter user in your tweet, that link won’t come through and magically link to their Facebook page. Instead it’s a big, honking red flag that says “I’m not really here and I don’t really care about my fans on Facebook.”
Your tweets cannot be shared
The other day I read a post about an event happening here in Halifax that I wanted to share with my friends & fans on Facebook, but because it was auto-posted from Twitter, there was no “share” option. I could copy and paste the post into my status, but I would have lost the attribution that way and I would have to tag the company page that originally posted. It is possible to do, but certainly not efficient or easy for your friends and fans.
If you want to save time, try using Hootsuite to cross-post. It will provide a “share” button so your links and comments can be shared easily on Facebook. But you still need to be careful that you don’t “share” Twitspeak and that you treat each audience appropriately.
Editor’s Note: This article is brought to you by AnyMeeting, the completely free web conferencing and webinar service. Use AnyMeeting for your next online meeting.
Congratulations to our ad free Kindle Fire giveaway winner:
Robert Fountain of Wilkes-Barre, PA
Thanks to all the people that signed up to try out the new ad free version of AnyMeeting.
Interested in going Ad free?
Customers can easily change from ad-supported to ad-free and vice versa on theAnyMeeting website. AnyMeeting offers two inexpensive levels for the ad-free version, 25 attendees for $17.99 per month and 200 attendees for $69.99 per month.
To remove ads, Log in to your account and click “Account” to go ad-free. If you are not already an AnyMeeting customer, simply sign up for a free account to get started.
By Joshua Zerkel, Custom Living Solutions
THIS IS A SPECIAL GUEST POST BY ONE OF OUR ANYMEETING USERS. WANT TO WRITE FOR THE ANYMEETING BLOG? GET THE DETAILS.
I travel quite a bit for both business and for fun, and I can’t think of the last time I went somewhere without some tech in tow, whether a digital camera, my mobile phone, iPad, laptop or netbook, or some other gizmo. These devices are so much a part of our lives that it’s hard for us to go anywhere without them. But how can we take them with us in a way that makes sense, keeps them accessible and organized, and doesn’t leave us with a huge and heavy carry-on bag?
Consolidate. This may seem like strange advice coming from a huge gadget fan, but when traveling, my general philosophy is “the fewer devices, the better.” The less you bring with you, the fewer devices you have to worry about losing, the fewer chargers you need to bring, and less you have to carry. One way to bring less tech with you is to leverage something you probably already use all the time – your mobile phone. Your cell phone can do so much for you – and can save you tons of bulk during a trip by consolidating the functions of many other devices into one. Especially if you have a current smartphone, you can often leave your digital camera, mp3 player, portable video game, camcorder, and GPS unit behind. Granted, you may not get every single feature that you’d have with each and every individual device, but the benefit of leaving them at home is far less bulk, and less to lose. One note: if you’re traveling abroad, make sure to review your data service plan or turn off your data (just leave your phone in flight mode) to avoid exorbitant roaming charges.
Charge smart. It used to be that every device needed its own charger, which can add lots of bulk to your travel case. I remember the days when I’d bring a charger for my laptop, my camera, my cell phone, my mp3 player, and my portable video game – and I’d try to shoehorn it all into one small bag. By the time I was done, my carry-on would be filled with chargers and cords! Luckily, that’s no longer the case. Many current devices can be charged via the USB port on your computer, or via a wall charger with a USB port. Instead of carrying around a wall adapter for each device, instead carry one USB-equipped wall adapter, and use a USB charging cable for your device (most devices, including cell phones, mp3 players, and many digital cameras, already come with such a cable). If you’re bringing your laptop with you, you may not even need to bring the wall adapter at all!
Organize and contain. Even if you have whittled down your devices to just one or two and have consolidated your cables to the bare minimum, you’re still going to have to deal with what can often be a tangled mess. What you don’t want is to open your bag and have to untie a big knot of cables – that’s no way to get a trip started on the right foot! Instead, make sure you’re using the right tools to help organize your cables and keep your devices safe. You’ll want to make sure you have a space for each of your devices, along with any chargers, adapters, extra memory cards, and the like.
When I travel, I like to use the Grid-It (http://www.cocooninnovations.com/grid.php) system to help keep all my chargers and cables organized. What’s great about this particular system is that it’s flexible and adaptable to whatever combination of gizmos and cables you happen to have with you, and it holds your stuff securely. I also like the Kangaroom Personal Media Pouch (http://bit.ly/pmOMoU) which can hold your devices and cables and then can slip into your larger laptop bag or briefcase.
These days, we all travel with something that has a button or a battery. What do you do to keep your tech organized when you travel?
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA–(Marketwire – Jan 5, 2012) – AnyMeeting, the completely free web conferencing and webinar service, today announced a new contest for its customers using the AnyMeeting app in the Google Apps Marketplace. Users of the free app in the Google Apps Marketplace can write a review of it, and they will be entered in a drawing to win a new Kindle Fire. See the complete press release on MarketWire.
By Angela Stringfellow
Any way you spin it, webinars are a valuable sales tool. Simply offering a webinar can boost sales and enhance brand recognition, and there are tons of ways you can use them to convert casual interest into actual paying clients. Here are seven specific tactics for turning webinars into sales engines:
AnyMeeting Blog | Online Meeting and Webinar Software News 