Stop thinking outside the box - Stuff that box as full as you can.

Stop using the worn out cliché ‘thinking outside the box.’  When dealing in business with clients, co-workers, and prospects, commit to stuffing their box as full as you can. Show them you can totally handle their needs and problems better than anyone else can.

Focus your attention on creating and demonstrating an effective personal solution that leaves no room whatsoever for questions, doubt, debate or uncertainty.  Don’t come up with some ultra-creative solution that clouds their judgment, casts doubt or distracts them from their goal.  Feel free to bring to their problems your solutions using use new ideas and innovation. Build on the success and good feeling from past performance.  Ultimately, you need to take their box that surrounds their needs and stuff it as full of your solutions as effectively as you possibly can.

As you would fill their box for shipping, make your solution seem air tight without any gaps, waste or excess room. Don’t let the possibility for uncertainty, doubt, or differences in personality take the place of presenting an effective answer that delivers precisely what your decision maker ultimately wants based upon your competence, effectiveness and ability to execute. Deliver a better idea by giving your audience the peace of mind solutions for which they asked.

Leave no room for doubt, by stuffing their box as full as you can.

Catch me on DaddyBlogger this Mon Jan 6th.

I am honored and delighted to be the guest on the Google Hangout for Daddy Blogger site. Looking forward to talking with Ricky Shetty about my takes on being a dad and the hard earned wisdom I can pay forward. For more information on this: http://daddyblogger.com/

The sentence I most dread: Can you leave me a professional rating?

The sentence I most dread in business social media: "Can you leave me a professional rating?"

As I write this, I am connected to 7,272 connections across several platforms. Yet, too people who ask me to talk about them are people who have blindly connected to me and then ask me what I think of them.

Face it: If I don't know you, then how can I review you?

For those of you will persist and clog my in box with requests, here's a blanket endorsement:  "I like you. I stand here and behold the inner goodness with in you. I support you in having powerful and prosperous professional relationships." If you give me a mailing address, I will send you a certificate that explains this for all to see and a gold star for your forehead.

But I can't say anything specific and won't rate you on a one to ten scale because frankly, I am not aware of your work, work ethic or your output. I can't offer a fair assessment, and I'm not comfortable with you paying someone's make a million dollar web scheme for me to tell you this.

If you want a fair assessment, get to know me and let me know you by your deeds.

I'm glad you don't have all the answers.

I am sincerely glad that everyone who reads this doesn't have all the answers. Those who don't will continue to try new attempts, set new goals and reach beyond where they are. They will react to change and look at things in different ways.

I once worked on the island of Jamaica. It is a lovely and lush tropical place to visit, but a tough
place to conduct business. One key reason is that the national model is "No Problem," which is supposed to mean it will be handled with a casual ease. Yet, many Jamaicans take this to mean that there is always tomorrow, and if we can't solve it now ... we can try to solve it then. As a result of working withthat mindset,  I have always quipped, "With no problems, come no solutions." Think about that ... how many processes, inventions and solutions in our lives came about as a solution to a problem.

Right now, there are people who would look upon the problems and issues which you face as answers to a prayer. Be glad you don't have all the answers, but keep working towards finding many of them.

ON THE DEAN'S LIST

I am launching a new solo podcast called “On The Dean’s List.”  This is a celebration of the art of conversation.  Our podcasts will air LIVE on Wednesday’s at 11 am Eastern Time. You can even call in to the show and join in the fun. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onthedeanslist On The Dean's List I am so excited about a new project I want to share it with you. Let me share our upcoming line-up … We launch on Wednesday June 5th with former WDIV Channel 4 Sportscaster Katrina Hancock.  She will share what happened at the station, what’s she’s been doing since she left, and sharing her thoughts about media and communications with us: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onthedeanslist/2013/06/05/katrina-hancock On June 12th, author Ellen Meister will join us to talk about her current book release, the novel FAREWELL, DOROTHY PARKER, channels the great Dorothy Parker, through her heroine movie critic Violet Epps.   We’ll also talk about Dorothy Parker, the writing and publishing processes and much more: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onthedeanslist/2013/06/12/ellen-meister June 19th, Our guest is Sharon O'Dell, our technology contributor, talking about gamification. Gamification is using game elements to help engage, inform and motivate employees, customers and other publics - Join us and learn how to use the process of gamification the right way: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onthedeanslist/2013/06/19/sharon-odell Other upcoming guests include friends Danielle Workman and Rosh Sillars. You can listen live every Wednesday morning and call in, catch us on iTunes and download the show onto your mp3 player, or listen to a recording on our social media sites.  On The Dean’s List is sponsored and produced by Dean’s List Publishers.  Make plans to check in every week --  You never know who may wind up “On The Dean’s List …”  Join me~! Dean La Douceur Celebrating the art of conversation ...  Click Here!

In Praise of Collaboration

While Phil Jackson may be regarded as the most successful professional basketball coach, his collaboration with Tex Winter produced the Triangle Offense, which powered these championships.  While Duke Ellington is considered a 20th Century Icon of jazz music, his collaboration with Billy Strayhorn produced the Ellington Band sound, and those memorable arrangements. Hum the first few bars of Take The A Train, if you ever doubt me.

Going it alone is a rocky, lonely and uncertain route. In my upcoming series of blogs, I will be introducing to a series of articles on this, In Praise of Collaboration. 

Working with a professional collaborator will bring out the best in you. Collaboration brings in resources greater than your own.  Collaboration allows others to bring both their expertise, experiences and and contacts.

Here are four quick benefits from working in collaboration:

1. Collaboration ends isolationism. -  While one should never be the town crier of a great concept and tell everyone around town, the idea of having someone else who is a part of the process gives this a third party accountability. It also adds energy to the process.

2. Collaboration forces you to hear different opinions. – People with ideas for which they are passionate love to say phrases such as “Everyone needs …”  “You’d thing that …”  “My experience is that …” Often, this is little more than conjecture.  Different opinions can help shape your idea profoundly.

3. Collaboration lets you give and get support and feedback. – In our minds, all ideas sound proud, tall and majestic.  Yet, experience teaches us that not everyone has the same ideas we do. In collaborating, we work together to explain something, analyse something and listen as others express their perspectives.

4. Collaboration teaches you what you’re ‘willing to fight for …’ – A certain degree of challenging someone is important. If it doesn't happen in the creation stage, it will certainly happen in the marketplace.

Literature from the New Testament and Think to Grow Rich all champion the ability to work in concert.  Entrepreneurs need to be open to the idea of having collaborators to achieve the outcomes which they seek.

January's LinkedIn Seminars

Thank you to everyone who have signed up for my conference calls about LinkedIn.

I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to teach what I know, make new friends and empower people.

Start your new year off by improving your profile on this powerful tool for business! Learn real tips, tools and techniques that make a difference in how you come across using this.

Here are the links with all the details and the ability to register for each:

1/3/13: http://linkedin2013.eventbrite.com

1/24/13: http://freelinkedinseminar.eventbrite.com

Getting Linked Up With Linkedin

While many business professionals know they need to be on the social media platform LinkedIn, a majority of users are failing to use this tool to its fullest potential. 

Don't miss the opportunity to learn more about using Linkedin to make vital connections, learn about inside business opportunities, prospect and close sales or talk with someone inside a company who can help get you a job. 

This 75 Minute FREE Conference Call is your opportunity to learn how to position your profile to take advantage of these opportunities and more.

During the call, you will learn about these key elements: 

• The one sin where you are making a instant poor first impression - no matter what excuse you make.
• How to think about LinkedIn in a different, more effective way.
• How to get the people you want to connect to you, even if they aren’t on LinkedIn.
• How to make a better first impression when asking people to connect with you.
• Techniques to build your creability, leadership and name recognition.

All session participants will recieve our free check list to review against their profiles. 

Plus, the first 25 sign ups will recieve an additional one on one 30 minute FREE evaluation call where we review and evaluate your Linkedin Profile. 

Online Ticketing for Getting Linked Up With Linkedin powered by Eventbrite

Windows 8: Where Are We Going Today?

The release of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system is only a week away.  And, the promises are that this will be the most dramatic change in how the system looks, feels and operates since Windows ’95 replaced Windows 3.1.

Right now, Microsoft appears to be truly reminiscent of an aging pop star. It needs a hit to be highly relevant again. Its greatest successes are in the past, like Journey, Styx and Foreigner.   If a UK judge in June can determine that Samsung’s tablets do not legally infringe on Apple’s iPads, because “they are not as cool;” Microsoft needs to really have a breakthrough to be considered "one of the cool kids."

A key to their strategy appears to be ripping a play straight from the Apple playbook. The introduction of the Surface tablet as a proprietary item is one way that Microsoft will challenge Apple. The other key is that Windows 8 is going to be one OS across hardware platforms, unlike Apple who has different OS for their handheld devices and their laptops/desktops.

To Microsoft’s credit, they are always willing to give it a go. At times it's seems like they show up too little and too late to the party with its efforts, but the creatives in Redmond have never been shy about reworking any idea which they feel they can do better. Considering their success rate on products, for every X-Box they make, there’s a Zune. For every MS Office, there’s a BOB, a Bing, a Vista and Clippy the talking paperclip    Sure, Apple is not totally immune to failure. Just look at Apple TV, Newton and iWork to name a few.  But, right now, Apple is top of the charts as the innovation and style leader. Apple, Inc. is truly the world’s most profitable company. Those who dissed Apple ten or more years ago as a product of the creative class now own several of their products. The world rocks to an iPod and communicates on an iPhone.

Microsoft also has to learn how not to tick off their core corporate clients while coming across as innovative and leading to end users. Any piece of popular culture has the challenge of being either too hip or too hype. With the promotion I've seen in place, perhaps the hype will keep users from trying what promises to be interesting ways to communicate.

There will always be a place for the Microsoft OS. A piece of hardware has to boot up somehow.  While the OS is the heart of the computer, it is no longer the soul. With all our online apps, cloud storage and handheld devices; desktops and laptops have become more like Thin Clients, where the core programs are stored and hosted someplace else. Google has attempted to bypass hardware based apps with Chromebooks and Android tablets to only limited success.

But to answer the 1994 question Microsoft asked, “Where do you want to go today?” the overwhelming answer today is anywhere I want to go ... but not just only on this one piece of hardware.

How to get more readers to open your business email ...

In business, good communication with customers, prospects, vendors and stakeholders is critical. Broadcast email is still widely regarded as one of the most cost effective ways to reach an audience today.

How you use email is a matter of individual tactics. Do you use broadcast emails or just communicate specifically with one person at a time?  Do you look upon receiving these as spam or direct communication?  How does email fit in to the marketing mix of what you do to attract and retain business?

Email use may be trending more towards business and marketing related activity, but it is still the pivot point for all things online. One aspect most social media sites still can not get past - you need an email address to sign up for them and for them to send your notifications such as a lost password.  Sorry Mr. Zuckerberg, that's just how you set the system up. 

I built Round Table Promotions on the strength of broadcast email. One phrase I hear quite often when meeting someone for the first time is, "I get your emails." In the age of social media, people I come in contact with still want to get the emails I send out, or want to be on the list. My lists may have grown and shrunk over time, but people still appreciate hearing from another business owner they know and trust.

Emerging technologies keep influencing how we communicate, but email in some form is here to stay. Four years ago, mobile marketing ... using text messages to cell phones was supposed to be the next big means to communicate. This has been significantly reduced by Smart Phone Apps, which let users choose when they want to interact with you through a dedicated application. Of course, there is an financial and time investment in developing this technology. Many people push out messages using all number of general and focus specific social media sites. 

Here are three quick ideas to improve what you are already doing: 

One - Give me a reason to read it from the moment I see it.  Treat the subject like like you were writing a newspaper headline. Make it stick out and do so with good word economy, right around seven words if you can. 

If it is a newsletter or offering, use something from inside that will pique the reader's curiosity. "How to stop losing money by ... secrets of successful ... How to get more readers to open your business email - I recently used that headline and it attracted your attention.  In a broadcast email, action words including FREE, gain, receive, act now to are great attention getter's. Other words that cut through the clutter include: secret, awesome, skills and helpful

When you send out individual emails, the same rule applies.  With a subject saying just "Minutes from Tuesday's Meeting," you are less likely to get an open verses "Need you to review these minutes from Tuesday's Meeting."  A call to action will get it out of the stack and in front of the receiver's eyeballs.

Two - Have the right mixture of selling and telling.  Reward me for opening any email I get by making me fell smarter for having done so.  Avoid sending a broadcast business email that only sells, sells, sells.  Even if you are promoting something, look for a way to make us aware of something that will help us feel better, smarter or solve a problem. Include a tip, which could spark interest in a different product or service your offer. 

For individual correspondence, think back to when people sent actual, formal business letters.   Use some of the transitions that you would use back then: Thank you for your assistance with this ...  I appreciate the prompt attention you are giving this matter ... I appreciate our most recent meeting and gained a great deal from it.  For those of you who are "just the facts" types, you are missing out on opportunities to increase your rapport with this person and bring ideas to the dialogue that they may or may not have thought of before. 

Three - Test, test, test what you're doing. Learn from the tests. Pay attention to the things that get you results. If something you did or said gets a quick response rate or a positive rate of interaction, then use that knowledge the next time. Don't stay stuck in three years ago - continue to test and monitor. 

For broadcast emails, test your subject lines. There is a rule that if you send out two emails with the same exact content, but change just the subject lines, one will have a superior open rate verses the other. I have found this to be true every time.

I am offering a FREE online conference call for business professionals who design and implement their own marketing programs or those valuable assistants who do this on behalf of an organization. 

To better accommodate your busy schedule, we have two sessions from which to choose:
Tuesday, October 23, 2012 from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM EDT*/1:00 PM PDT^ -  http://moreopenstuesdaypm.eventbrite.com 

Thursday, October 25, 2012 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM EDT*/8:00 AM PDT^ -  http://moreopensthursdayam.eventbrite.com 

When you register in advance, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions on how to participate. Take the next step towards becoming a more powerful communicator using this tool. Sign up NOW!

"Lunch N' Learn" To Replace Round Table Promotion's Third Thursday

Rochester Hills, MI - (February 1, 2012) --  Round Table Promotions has announced that it is jumping back in to the mid-day event business, but gone is the term 'Third Thursday.

"Events will now be known as 'Lunch N' Learn," ' announced President & CEO Dean La Douceur, "It's as if an old friend has come back for business professionals, but after the hiatus ... she comes back with a new name."

La Douceur explains, "The core of the event is the lunch n' learn. While we never want to down play any opportunity for some to build their business, the opportunity to learn and bring ideas and insights to people has been a strong aspect of our event for over six years."

La Douceur also likes not being tethered to one specific date, "You don't know how many speakers and presenters who have wanted to do the event have declined because of a standing obligation on their part on Thursdays in general, or that day of the month. Now, if it works on a Tuesday or Friday, we have more freedom to book people in a more natural order."

Kicking off the series is Kym Johnson, President and Owner of  KSJ Marketing Communications will talk on Marketing 911: Quick Fixes and Long Term Solutions to get your message out! "Kym has attended many of our events in the past, and I know that she will bring some great insights and ideas to the event." This session will be held on Thursday, February 16, 2012, from 1:30am until 1:30pm. Other speakers, dates and times will be announced as details are finalized.

La Douceur has been hosting lunch and learn events since June 2005. The roster of speakers has been an A list of Southeastern Michigan newsmakers, thought leaders, authors and experts in their fields. Round Table Promotions is a Rochester Hills-based event management and publicity firm.

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