Turning Email Into A Tool Not A Chore

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I’ve been reading a lot of articles lately talking about the impending doom of email, at least as we know it. Love it or hate it, I believe that some form of this communication medium will be with us for many years to come. Certainly, products like the soon to be released Google Wave may change the way we look at, and use, electronic messaging. For now, for me, email is indispensable.

A little background may help. I work out of my home and have two positions. Standing and sitting (smile). I am an independent sales contractor for Lytle Signs and, while they have an office here in the Boise area, the company headquarters are 125 miles away in Twin Falls, ID. 90% of all design, estimating, manufacturing, and accounting takes place in Twin Falls. Also, at least 50% of my client base is not located in the Boise area. Consequently, almost all of my correspondence is done via email. As is a large percentage of my general communication.

My other job is operating this website and the B2B networking group that it supports, NetWorks! Once again, email is a critical part of this formula. Finally, I do not own a smart phone. All my emailing functions are conducted on my desktop PC. I had a Blackberry about 5 years ago and the happiest day of my life was when I turned it in (smile). Will I have one in the future? Probably, but I’m going to hold out on that as long as possible.

So, if we are going to be using email, let’s make it work for us instead of the other way around. Here are 2 tools and 7 tips to help you accomplish that goal and, at the same time, how you can turn common email messages into powerful selling tools:

A Full Day Of NetWorking!….Idaho Style

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NetWorks! Boise

So much to NetWork ……… so little time to do it in (smile). Started the day off right by attending the first, hopefully annual, Meridian Business Day that was conducted over at the new Meridian City Hall. This was a free event and was very very well attended. The brain child of Brandon Wright over at Ultra Clean Pro, who also puts on the monthly Smoke Out, this function featured a round table discussion of a number of local business trends and interests as well as several mini-seminars on a wide range of topics from Social Media to Starting a Business In A Slow Economy. And, free food featuring local Meridian restaurants. Did I mention free food? (smile). Hey, the whole thing was free! What a great way to impart some positive energy!

I did have an opportunity to listen in on the “4 C’s of Social Media” which was put on by Justin Foster over at Tricycle Brand Development. Culture, Content, Coversations, Conversions. I won’t go into the details but I’m sure if you got ahold of Justin, he would be happy to assist you. I did come away with some specific memorable quips (to paraphrase):

1. If you suck in real life, you will suck even more with Social Media (smile).
2. It takes patience. I’m screwed (smile).
3. We will all be working for, or buying from, Gen Y soon. I’m going to kill myself (smile).
4. Social Media is “old rules, new tools”. It’s all about communication.
5. It’s o.k. to let us know what you are selling. Just don’t sell to us.
6. Conversations create relationships which then create transactions. 

Communication Style Flexing

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It’s Sunday night, my to-do list is done, tomorrow is a holiday, and I’m bored to death. What to do? What to do? I’ve got it…..blog (smile). Time for a diversionary post. Time to talk about something that I actually understand and that would be communication styles. This does involve talking, listening, and watching so please put your thumbs away (smile).

My training involves working with what is called the DISC system. There are a lot of programs out there that are actually using this same model but they will assign different names to the personality (communication) styles. What they do have in common is that they recognize four distinct personalities and the ways that these folks typically prefer to communicate with others. But, I get ahead of myself. Let’s first set the stage.

There are likely folks out there that you just connect with right away. You understand each other implicitly and have common interests. You are made for each other. However, there are other folks that are the exact opposite. You do not even seem to speak the same language and probably have no intention of enjoying each others’ company. Then there are those people who are in between. Finally, you have also met folks where the conversation has started off just great only to disintegrate before your very eyes. What is up with that? (smile)

As said previously, the DISC system recognizes four distinct personalities.  They are: The Dominator, The Inducer, The Stabilizer, and The Conformer. It is extremely rare that any one person will be controlled by just one of these personality types. That being said, each of us tends to have a preferred style, that aspect which tends to be dominant. However, as we are made up of various degrees of maybe even all four of these personalities, other less dominant styles will often come to the surface and be displayed to those, and by those, we are communicating with. Hence, the good conversation that might suddenly go bad. But, it does not have to. This brings us to developing the ability to flex our communication styles.

5 Step Quick Start Guide To Social Media

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Disclaimer: Let me say this, I am about as far from being a Social Media “expert” as anybody you are likely to encounter. But I do know enough to be dangerous. Some might say, very dangerous (smile). So, this is by no means the only way, or the right way, to get involved with Social Media. What it is is my way and how I did it. I do need to give some props to Jen Harris over at Caffeinated Marketing. Jen did the same thing for me and for our group, NetWorks!, which I now repackage and pass on to you. This will get you started, and started only,  if you have not already done so. It is more of a how to than a why do. There are millions of resources out there, including this site, that can tell you more.

Step #1 – Get Educated: There is just a huge and overwhelming amount of information out there on the web and trying to find it and keep track of it can easily exceed a full-time position. I would suggest you do the following:

1. Get a Gmail account. This will also allow you to set up an iGoogle page which I use as my home page. Already have other email accounts and maybe too many? No problem. One: you don’t have to use it and, Two: you may want to use it to track just your social media efforts. Kind of like a folder. Your iGoogle page will allow you to display tools and feeds that are important to you. I have various news feeds, my Gmail inbox, the weather, other goodies, and my Google Reader.
2. Set up Google Reader: Google reader will allow you to subscribe to, and automatically get new posts from, information sources you find to be of value. It eliminates the need to constantly check back on these sites to see if anything is new. Your reader box will show you a title and source which you can then click on to see a simplified version of the article and then will also allow you to go to the site, if desired, to see the original complete article. I would start by subscribing to two invaluable resources: Mashable and………..this blog (smile). Once you have reader set up, many sites including this one, will have a subscribe to entries box somewhere visible on the site. You can also add sites manually to your reader if a subscribe to option is not available.  Mashable is all things social media. I call it the “bible”.

Fish Friday – Wrap It Up (Smile)

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I’m having a “Jimmy” moment here…………”Whoa, Brain Overload!” (smile). Here’s how my day laid out:

See my shrink: Get those little pink pills that allow me to sleep at night and keep my OCD under control when the sun is shining (smile). Of course, If I did not operate on a steady stream of coffee, which I am told can cause psychosis (true story), sleeping might not be a problem.

Network over coffee: Glad I got my prescription refilled (smile). For those not familiar with this form of networking, it is done in person. Face to face. It involves your lips not your thumbs (smile).

Sit in on webinar ….”Don’t Pee In The (Social Media) Pool“: This was put on by Tricycle Brand Development and was kind of a “what not to do” with social media. I don’t think that I’m peeing in the pool right now but occasionally I may “leak”.  And you know what? I’m o.k. with that. We call it “learning”.

Seesmic: New update out today. I’m starting to think that I may look at this a little closer as an alternative to Tweet Deck.

YouTube: O.K., if you are not aware, YouTube is now owned by Google. In my post yesterday I embedded a YouTube video of “Smoke On The Water” by Deep Purple. So, I’m watching the video in my tie dyes, sandals, and pukka beads and I then see that Google is running ads below the video. Better yet, the ads are for networking groups. Now how in the hell did Google know that I embedded that video in a post, on a site, that is devoted to networking? Scary.