At several places of employment, we had a “war room”.  These were basically conference rooms we set aside to go to work out some problems  What made them different from most conference rooms was that we could keep working papers, white board, big sticky posters etc. up instead of having to take them down each time for the next user.

In the article by Rowan Gibson, The Innovation War Room,  http://www.innovationtools.com/Articles/EnterpriseDetails.asp?a=373, Rowan makes a really great case for these types of rooms because they help sharpen and focus management on solving strategic challenges.  In today’s market, according to Rowan , “you can’t just continue to sell the same old product or service to the same old customers in the same old way”

So, what are you doing this year to maintain and grow revenue?

For CBD Management, we’re really going out and focussing on adjusting our business model to share in the risk and REWARD with our clients.  Consultants are too willing to take big retainers, offer big advice, and never understand that clients take a huge risk by utilizing us.  If our advice doesn’t work, most consultants don’t care because they’ve been paid.  WE DO.  We want to reduce some of that risk but share in the success IF we are mutually successful.  If we’re not successful, we should be retained.

How about you?

What’s the first step we recommend for any business looking to add social online media to their marketing mix? Start blogging, both creating your own blog and commenting on blogs relevant to your business.

Here’s why:

• Blogging is about sharing information and viewpoints, and every business - whether it’s about widgets or working capital - has info and viewpoints to share. It’s relevant and practical.
• With blogging applications like WordPress, the technology behind this blog, you can incorporate one into an existing website, or create a separate blog webiste, or redirect an existing domain.
• It’s a great way to maintain a dynamic website, with fresh content added regularly. No web programming skills required - any user who can run a word processor can use most blog software.
• By definition, a blog ‘voice’ is personal and authentic. This is no place for marketing fluff! So with some simple guidelines, any of your employees can contribute directly and speak their language - technical people can speak geek, managers can speak executivese.
• Blogs are a great way to optimize search marketing (SEO) and pay for click (PPC) advertising.

If you haven’t started blogging yet, consider it the one social networking tool that’s appropriate for any organization. Following are some commercial-strength blogging tools to consider:

Wordpress: http://wordpress.com/products/

TypePad: http://www.typepad.com/pricing/

Squarespace: http://www.squarespace.com/pricing/

Movable Type: http://www.movabletype.com/overview/

More on making the most of blogging in future posts.

Should I or shouldn’t I?  So, here’s my dilemma.  I am constantly in client offices, on the road, or with my family and need access to certain files and documents.  Now, some of my files are huge (video files specifically) so I’ve been looking to see if there is 1 place I can place everything so that I can access off my Macbook Pro, my MacPro and my Asus Eee PC…Looked at having my own server with VPN access, looked at Mobile Me, all kinds of different things… Not sure what the right way to go is.

So, I am considering moving to Google Docs and putting everything there.  It fits in line with what we believe in at CBD Management - cloud computing and “should” make my life simpler.

Anyone do this before?  Was it worth it?

Our answer is yes, you should. Social Media Marketing offers marketing and business development advantages, no matter what your product or service:

1. Develop and strengthen brand awareness.
2. Demonstrate your business expertise and know how, otherwise referred to as thought leadership.
3. Identify new, qualified leads that are predisposed to what you have to offer.
4. Network and form new business connections.
5. This and more, and the beauty of social networking is that it’s fast, wide-reaching and virtually free.

The key is to do it right. Some outlets (like Facebook and MySpace) are used primarily by teens and 20-somethings for purely social reasons, others have a more ‘grown-up’ and/or business slant, such as LinkedIn.  And some social media categories, like blogging and video-sharing, are going in every direction.

CBD Recommends: Don’t let the social media bandwagon pass you by. Develop a Social Media Plan:

• Familiarize yourself with social media. For that we will point you to Wikipedia, another social media outlet that you should consider as a way to share subject expertise. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media.

• Think about your target market and which social media outlet(s) could help you reach them.

• Determine the type of information and perspectives you can share.

• Identify whose responsibility it will be to get it done and create a plan for doing so.

We’ll add our sales pitch here: we can help you create, and then execute, a Social Media Plan, with regular reporting on results and ongoing recommendations. Call David Chao at 303.488.9170 for more information.

We have found a couple of easy yet innovative time management tools that can help you be more effective and efficient. They are free and also offered as a subscription for more functionality and no advertising.

JOTT.COM

This web application allows you to capture thoughts and reminders in a phone call that then creates an email or text message.  You call a toll free number to record your voice, which is turned into text and sent as an email or SMS text to any destination. There is free, ad-supported service as well as subscription service.  http://jott.com/Default.aspx

TA-DA LISTS

This is a 100% free all the time mini web app from our friends at 37signals, the makers of Basecamp and other useful SaaS/Web 2.0 applications. Ta-da lists allows you to create lists of any kind that get posted to a URL you can share or keep private. For greater organizational functionality, they have a subscription service called Backpack. http://www.tadalist.com/

Every minute counts, so make every minute count, not by working harder (since there are only so many hours in the day) but by working smarter!

How’s business?  Not as good as you hoped?

I’ve noticed that business has slowed a bit for my clients.  Perhaps it is anticipation of the holidays, or the bad news in the economy which continues to drive sales down but I feel that it is more important now to have a sales plan and methodology.  That’s why I’m really excited about an interview that we will be conducting with Sam Reese, CEO of Miller Heiman.  I had Miller Heiman training way back when I started in sales and I really believe that a reliable and repeatable methodology will increase sales, even in a down market like this.

So, check back next week for Sam’s interview on increasing sales in today’s market.

The best source of business is from the customers you already have! They can be your bread and butter, a source of new opportunities within their organization and a source of leads for new clients. And any business development expenditures you invest in them is effective, efficient and measurable. We’ve provided some tips on ways to nurture client relationships in the attached….

When the economy goes down, client nurturing should go up. (PDF download)

Lots of Web 2.0 software sites give free trial periods to entice users to try their offerings without risk or commitment, yet usually the free period comes to an end. (more…)

Blogging has evolved so that it’s not just for bloggers anymore! (more…)

These terms are getting more attention as more business applications are moving to the web (more…)