Featured Presentation – Creating A Tribal Brand

Via NetWorks! Boise Business Minds member, Justin Foster with Tricycle Brand Development ..

Please visit our group sites …….

Sunrise - Tues. 7:30-8:30 AM

Bing - Wednesdays Noon to 1PM

Business Minds - Tues. 11:30-12:30

NetWorks! Boise – Recommended Book List

I knew that the members of our groups were pretty well read but I had no idea just how learned they were! So, this week we asked them to name some recent books that they had read which they felt might be of benefit to our other members. Wow! I don’t have the time to link them all but can tell you that I managed to find everyone of them on Amazon.com. There are some unusual titles here but don’t be dismayed. I am told that 99% of these titles do have a practical business message. OK, maybe 98% (smile).

5,000 Year Leap – W. Cleon Skousen

Arguing with Idiots – Glen Beck

Basic Economics –Thomas Sowell

Becoming a Person of Influence – John C. Maxwell

Behavioral Interviewing Guide – Tom S. Turner

Creature from Jekyll Island – G. Edward Griffin

Five Minutes with Vito – David Mattson

Good to Great – Jim Collins

In The Trenches – Craig Zuber

Just Listen – Mark Goulston M.D

Make the Noise Go Away – Larry Linne

Now Discover Your Strengths – Marcus Buckingham

Oh The Places We Will See – Dr. Seuss

One Minute Manager – Ken Blanchard

Outliers: The Story of Success – Malcolm Gladwell

Political “Action” Series of Novels – Vince Flynn

Pyro Marketing – Greg Stielstra

Raving Fans – Ken Blanchard

Relationship Selling – Jim Cathcart

Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Robert T. Kiyosaki

Rise and Walk – Dennis Byrd

Spin Selling – Neil Rackham

Strengths Finder – Tom Rath

The Accidental CEO – Thomas Voccola

The Art of Happiness – The Dali Lama

The Big Idea – Donny Deutsch

The Brower Quadrant – Lee Brower

The Business Coach – Bradley Sugars

The Common Denominator of Success – Albert E.N. Gray

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team – Patrick Lencioni

The Four Hour Workweek – Timothy Ferriss

The Fred Factor – Mark Sanborn

The Go Giver – Bob Burg

The Greatest Salesman Who Ever Lived – Og Mandino

The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch

The Likeability Factor – Tim Sanders

The Nordstrom Way – Partick D. McCarthy

The Personality Puzzle – Florence Littauer

The Power Within – Tony Robbins

The Purpose Driven Life – Rick Warren

The Rhythm of Life – Matthew Kelly

The Secret – Rhonda Byrne

The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell

The Words of Gandhi – Mahatma Gandhi

Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson

Understanding, Leveraging, and Maximizing LinkedIn – Neal Schaffer

Why Your Life Sucks & What You Can Do About It – Alan Cohen

Wild at Heart – John Eldredge

Thanks for visiting and enjoy!

Craig

NetWorks! Boise “Flips” Over Video

Let’s face it, everything today is going video and I frankly needed to get with the program. Personally, I hate to have even my picture taken so the thought of having my mug on a video causes my stomach to churn. However, putting other people’s mugs on videos has no discernible negative effects (smile). First off, you do need to decide what to buy and I know nothing about these gadgets. I narrowed it down to five models by two manufacturers but I did read up about others.

Flip Video: Choose between the Flip Ultra, Flip Ultra HD, or the Flip Nano HD. The standard Ultra is priced attractively but only has VGA resolution. The Ultra HD and the Nano HD feature 720p high definition recording and will record up to 2 hours or 1 hour, respectively. The Nano is also smaller and less expensive.

Kodak: The Zi6 is VGA and is very inexpensive now. The Zi8 is 1080p high definition and is quite a bit more expensive and then, on top of that, you still need to buy the memory card. The Zi8 also includes image stabilization.

Based on a combination of price and performance, I chose the Flip Ultra HD and got it on Amazon for $155.00 plus shipping. I just love Amazon and it pretty consistently does have the lowest prices on many of the electronics and books that I choose to buy and their service and return procedures are outstanding!!

This is going to be a very short post but here are my initial findings and impressions:

1. I like the slightly larger size and weight. For me it is easier to hold and I do equate lbs. with quality.
2. Once you figure them out, the controls on the camcorder are very easy to use.
3. Video quality will improve substantially once I figure out how to keep my thumb off the lens (smile).
4. The software is fairly easy to use but you will need to play with it a bit. Certainly it is not the most intuitive software on my computer.
5. Their 800 support line is outstanding! Fast response and the correct answers. I have used it twice. Read on.
6. The Flip is the only device that I have ever connected to my computer via USB that actually cares about Window’s “Safely Remove Hardware” utility. If you do not use that, the camera will not come back on and you will need to do a battery pull to reboot.
7. It does have an on-board USB jack that flips out but, it would be nicer with some sort of cord attached. Having that thing “hang” off the side of my computer where the USB ports are located did not seem that wise so I ended up spending $40.00 on a USB hub and extension.
8. 720p file sizes are freakin’ HUGE. The 1 minute and 14 second video on our main site right now (my first ever attempt at recording with anything) is 110 mb! It took 15-20 minutes to upload to YouTube and I ended up doing that from YouTube vs. via the Flip software. I did look at Flip’s support site and it did tell me that I could save my videos to disk in a compressed format or one with lower resolution. Come to find out that this option was removed by their engineers in their latest software release. What? However, my call to tech support revealed that if you select the video and use the “Online” function which is used to upload videos to YouTube, FaceBook, and others … you keep selecting “others” and it will then create a folder on your desktop and will then save a greatly reduced file size of your video to that folder. Sweeet!
9. The rechargeable battery pack does charge via the USB in about 6 hours. You can buy a separate charger that cuts that time by something like half. In a pinch, and this is great, you can slap in a couple of standard AA batteries.
10. Image stabilization would be nice but we will probably work mostly from a fixed position. I do have a camera tripod that I ass/u/me will work and also got this cute little bendy-leg version from Amazon.

Overall, I think this is going to be pretty cool. We will likely use this to record and post member and guest presentations and we will also be doing interviews of members and will post those on this main site, on our dedicated group sites, and on our member dedicated pages.  Technically, I’m pretty confident that this will be easy to figure out. As for quality .. probably no Oscars in our future (smile).

Thanks for visiting!

Craig

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What’s In Your BlackBerry?

It’s been about 6 months now since I ended my smart phone boycott and decided that it was time to jump back into a technology that I had found to be so painful a number of years ago. Just had to keep up with the times. My choices were limited by the fact that I live in, for whatever reason, about a one square block of limited cell phone access on all carriers. T-Mobile continues to offer their Hot Spot @ Home service which allows you to make and receive cell calls via the internet and, more importantly, essentially places a cell tower by my desk that is known as my modem. At the time, and maybe even now, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 was the only offering that would meet all of my needs.

The 8900 is a well built phone and I have come to become quite comfortable with it. It is not 3G and. even when hooked to Wi-Fi, web surfing is painfully slow. That being said, my main uses for this phone are email, text, and Twitter. Of course, you can’t have a phone like this without wanting to load some applications on it and, while the number of applications pales compared to the iPhone or Droid, what is available is adequate for my needs. I am not sure what is on your BlackBerry but, here is what is on mine (not including the standard preloaded BlackBerry apps like maps, messenger, etc.) :

SocialScope Lite: I have tried UberTwitter, looked at TwitterBerry, and loaded up Seesmic. Nothing has come close to SocialScope. Two twitter accounts, FaceBook, FourSquare, and Flickr all in one neat little package and with all the bell’s and whistles you could ask for. Go to their site and request a beta invite. I have seen those invitations arrive in a matter of hours but some folks are still waiting for theirs. Don’t ask me why but definitely worth the wait.

Google Sync: I had my 8900 for 5 months before I realized that it could sync with my Gmail contacts and calendar and it does so seamlessly. How could I have been so stupid.

Google Mobile: This is a nice app and it just got better. The voice search works surprisingly well. Now when you conduct a voice search it also checks your contact list and allows you to dial from Google Mobile. Sweet! The one problem that continues is that it does have a tendency after repeated use to freeze my BlackBerry like a solid block of ice. Bummer. See Quick Pull.

Bing Mobile: This app also has voice search that works well but it excels in finding local attractions like restaurants and movie times and locations.

Salesforce: Kind of clunky but it works well particularly for finding contacts. Does interface with your contact book and even SocialScope but you do need to select to send contacts to Salesforce manually. Not “typing them in” manually but rather a menu selection to “send to”.

Pandora: Super sweet internet based radio where you build your own radio stations. Free for up to 40 hours per month and available on the BlackBerry App World Store.

Beweather Lite: A nice little weather report that is available as a free version from the BlackBerry App World Store.

Quick Pull: I paid something like $2.00 for mine at a web site and now they have a free lite version at the BlackBerry App World Store. This does exactly the same thing as a battery pull reboot. My BlackBerry is encased in a bullet proof rubber shell and it takes a chainsaw to get the two sections apart. Before I found Quick Pull … let’s just say that it remains a miracle that I did not throw the 8900 down the insinkerator.

FaceBook: This comes standard with your BlackBerry and works surprisingly well.

Bolt Browser: Some folks swear by Opera Mini but that did not work for me. Bolt can be faster than your 8900’s resident browser, it displays pages nicely, and you can adjust the font size which is an absolute must for me since my reading vision is very poor. The home page is very nice with your history and your favorites clearly displayed. For whatever reason, it does struggle with video. Adjusting to a lower resolution has not solved this problem for me.

Dex: White and yellow pages on your BlackBerry. You just can’t have too many ways to look up somebody’s phone number.

Loopt: Location based Tweeting. Let’s face it, lot’s of tools are doing this now including SocialScope, UberTwitter, and many others. If not mistaken, Loopt is in a death match right now with the likes of Yelp and FourSquare. Not a huge draw for me but might be good if you live in a larger city and want to be able to hook up with others in your immediate area. Note: Any app that uses location based services (GPS) is a monstrous drain on your battery even when it is just running in the background i.e., it is not even open. Be sure to go to your options and either turn that off or have it set to run only when the app is open.

ESPN: Keep up with the latest sports news in a fast load format. A must when you have a browser that moves at the same pace as molasses in January in Siberia.

Engadget: Keep up on the latest gadget news. Available for free at the BlackBerry App World Store.

I am still anxiously awaiting two apps…… LinkedIn is at least a month behind on its introduction of a sweet app for the BlackBerry. Xobni, which is fabulous on Outlook, is also preparing to launch an app. Ultimately, at least for me, not having the choices available with the iPhone or Droid is a blessing rather than a curse. Those of us who have been cursed with the attention span of a three year old know exactly what I mean (smile).

Thanks for visiting!

Craig

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Partnerpedia – Connect, Control, Collaborate

Disclaimer: This post is based entirely upon my initial evaluation of this application only and should not be interpreted as being 100% accurate. Please contact the vendor to confirm or discuss your particular needs. Thank you!

I had an interesting opportunity last week to connect directly with this company and their Vice President of Marketing, Sam Liu. Why they reached out to me still remains largely a mystery but how is a testament to how hard these folks work at engagement. Rachel Marshall, found this site via one of their PR folks, Tory Klaubo Patrick, and they apparently found something to be of interest and ….. relevance? That, in itself, is astonishing! LOL.

Prior to our call I did have the opportunity to get on the site and sign up for their free account. My first impression was that this is a well designed application and I am a sucker for a pretty face… My free version of Jing does limit these videos to 5 minutes in length. After watching, you will likely wish to send them a thank you card in grateful acknowledgment of this small blessing (smile).

Click here for a larger screen view of  “Partnerpedia“, posted with vodpod

…

Still, I would also have to say that those same first impressions were that this was just another business networking site and, at first glance, perhaps most resembled BizNik. BizNik is very nice, and worthy of your attention but Partnerpedia is an animal entirely unto itself and an impressive one at that! While the aim of all business networking sites is to facilitate connections, Partnerpedia takes that mission to an entirely new level with a bevy of tools designed for partner collaboration. In it’s unique way, it does provide elements that meet the definitions for being both social and CRM.

The most accurate way to view Partnerpedia may be found in their name itself. This site is designed to help you find and establish partnership relations with other firms, or strengthen your existing ones,  (partner) and then share specific information with those partners through rich content management modules that can include documents such as your literature and channel agreements (pedia). It goes further than that by integrating a leads management system that, once again, allows you to collaborate on those opportunities in your shared efforts to secure that business. This, my friends, would be CRM. I am not certain if this is yet available, and even then perhaps will be only with the paid version but, their website does tout integration with Salesforce. Definitely CRM. While Partnerpedia certainly exhibits aspects of a business-social networking site, it really is more of a serious business tool and a very different tool at that. I have never personally encountered anything quite like it.

I am at a slight disadvantage as, at present, I do not have any partners on the site to collaborate with and this makes it difficult for me to actually field test the tools. I will be looking to change that. However, let’s talk a little bit about what I am able discern …

The home page is well designed and easy to navigate. The predominate features are community shared articles and a forum where you can add content or start a new forum discussion or collaboration. You do have the ability to rate content, leave comments, or share it on Social Media. You can join discussions and follow their updates. There are also feature articles by Partnerpedia’s Community Managers. Community Managers are there to assist member companies with any questions that they may have about the site and also to share helpful tips. Now, when was the last time you were on LinkedIn or FaceBook or any other site and found someone lurking around with nothing to do but to help you? How about … never! What if you needed help? How easy was it to even find where to ask for it? Not very. Partnerpedia gets extremely high marks for customer service. Their community managers are Responsive with a capital “R”.

From my home page I also have the ability to invite my contacts to Partnerpedia or upload partners that are already in my channel. I can also search members who are already on the site as well as seek to initiate new collaborations. These tools are quite powerful and will allow you to share documents as well as have access to a variety of other options. Once a connection has been made, you then have the ability to control what information or documents that you may have on file and how those are to be shared with each individual partner or connection. For example, a VAR may have access to forms and agreements that a standard reseller would not.  As far as Partnerpedia’s tools to give you the ability to control areas of access, and your privacy …. very flexible, very detailed, and very complete. In my experience, these controls are generally all or nothing and that goes for everybody, therefore, these individual levels of control strike me as being huge.

Of course, you do have the ability to establish profiles for yourself, other members of your company, and your company itself and have those linked altogether. Throughout Partnerpedia you will find a pretty nice word processing tool for creating and editing content. This module also has the ability to establish hyperlinks which I used to direct folks to my LinkedIn, Twitter, and FaceBook sites. What the word processor does not have is any kind of spell check. What is up with that? And, if you think that your FireFox spell check will take care of that little problem, guess again. If your spelling skills even remotely resemble mine, this is a serious bummer and one I hope that they will correct. You will also see on the home page prominent links to Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, and Wikipedia. Unfortunately, these are not your links. Each of them connects to Partnerpedia’s respective sites. Bummer part deux. However………..

Partnerpedia does a paid version which they call Private Networks. Looking at their literature, Private Networks allows you to create and brand your own private online community and it appears to be very very powerful. It is likely best designed for larger firms and they did throw out some well recognized names during our conversation. I honestly have no idea of  the necessary investment that might be required to use this service but, it could certainly be worth your inquiry. You will even get the social media links on the home page that will take folks to your sites (smile). Here’s a comparison chart of the free and paid versions ……

So, how close does Partnerpedia come to my definition of the “Holy Grail of Social CRM”? I haven’t quite decided yet. If CRM stands for “Customer Relationship Management”, this is exactly what Partnerpedia is designed to do.  It may be one of the most interesting tools that I have evaluated to-date . And, it may also be forcing me to reevaluate my previous definitions.

I am going to end this here but I am also going to promise you additional posts once I have had an opportunity to put this application through its paces. There is no way that even a fraction of its capabilities can be explored in one writing.  I have to say that this site, at least on the surface, may not be well designed for my specific business model which does not meet what I perceive to be Partnerpedia’s target market. However, I do have a certain talent for taking unusual tools and adapting them to fit my twisted needs. My tiny brain is already churning on the possibilities (smile).

Thanks for visiting!

Craig

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NetWorks! Boise Continues To Evolve

This is going to be a very short post but I did want to share with you some things I saw today that literally blew me away. I am being forced to re-examine many of my core beliefs as it relates to face-to-face networking groups. You know, those same groups that I own and run as a business.

I have always been one who finds a tremendous amount of security in conformity. I like everything painted the same color. I like my groups to march to the same beat. After all, I do know what makes these groups work. Oddly, when it comes to using new technologies to carry out our goals, I am very much open to that and quick to evaluate and embrace those tools that will make our groups even better. Mess with the basic group format, it’s core principles, and that’s where I have traditionally drawn the hard-line.

Here’s what works. You get some really great people together, they share some great leads, and strong relationships naturally form as the result. Simple. And, I see it work and work well everyday. With two of my groups. My third group, Business Minds, has essentially flipped the last two components. Sure, they talk a little about leads but, with some exception, that is not the focus. With even less exception, they will write these leads down so that I can enter them into their CRM. They march to the beat of a different drummer and no matter how hard I have tried to establish the correct rhythm, they continue to go their own direction.

Well, today I saw something incredible. Everybody went around the room and as opposed to the typical 60 second commercial, each shared their passions. Some of it was work related but a lot of it was very personal. We have discussed this topic before but I have never seen folks jump in like they did today. Mind you, this core group has now been together for close to four months so I am sure that has a great deal to do with it. I had absolutely no idea of most of the fantastic causes that these folks are involved in. I do now (smile). I feel honored to just be associated with them. I left the meeting with a new appreciation for each as an individual as well as a member of our group. But, the meeting did not stop there …..

For several weeks now, many of the members have stayed after the regular meeting to conduct round table discussions on areas of business that likely affect them all. While It may be constructed around an issue that a particular member is having with their business, fact is, most of us share these same challenges. What this has transformed into, however, is much more than just a round table. It has become a peer board. I’d like to take credit for this great idea but it sure wasn’t me. This credit goes to Brandon Wright of Ultra Clean and Wright Stuff Radio. Brandon called me after the meeting and we shared some feedback. I told him how my jaw had dropped at what I had seen and how I was seriously taking it all in and now examining how best to put it to work in our other groups.

Brandon and I did agree on one other thing. It would be nice if people would write their leads down. Someone had a great one for him the other day but he could not remember what it was. Of course, it’s not in the CRM. I had to smile because I know the system does work. Leads and relationships are not mutually exclusive. How we approach them may need to evolve.

Thanks for visiting!

Craig

Postscript 1/20/10: At our Wednesday meeting today for NetWorks! Boise Bing!, we asked each member to share his or her passion and obtained equally amazing results! Sweet! Oh yeah, and we also managed to post 28 leads to their CRM. Yes, you can do both (smile).

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