BMA Marketing's blog http://bmamkt.posterous.com Tips, stories and news to grow your business posterous.com Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:48:00 -0800 LongJump.com referral http://bmamkt.posterous.com/longjumpcom-referral http://bmamkt.posterous.com/longjumpcom-referral

A www.LongJump.com Sales Rep asked me to share my experiences with a
prospect that is considering investing more time and energy into the
LongJump platform.

CRM and hosted development platforms (like LongJump, SalesForce, Intalio,
etc.) are my passion - I continue to be dazzled by the incredibly powerful
yet inexpensive tools that are now available to businesses of any size. They
enable us to organize and manage enterprise data (prospect / customer /
order / marketing) and business processes (ex: what does your org do when
you get a lead?) that can then be leveraged and automated.

Here are my answers to the prospect's questions...


* How long have you used LongJump?

Since March 2008.


* How many users do you have?

8

I have trained double that number on how to login and use the system over
the past 1.5 years. This is important. I have never needed to create a user
manual or drag a user through any kind of complicated training. Navigation
is clean and quick. Learn one app and you can use all of them. Staff LIKE
LongJump. When I moved staff from a hosted spreadsheet service I was testing
over to LongJump, they made it a point to tell me how LongJump made them
more productive.


* How stable has the system been (errors, down-time, etc.)?

Very stable. I have seen the service go down (unplanned) a few times (maybe
3?) in the past 1.5 years. The outages have only ever been minutes (not more
than 10) so system problems have never affected our ability to get our work
done.


* How much customization have you done (fields, objects, applications,
etc.)?

Hundreds of hours. I have modified the existing objects (ex: the Account and
Opportunity tabs) by adding fields and triggers, and have created many
custom applications (a collection of tabs) containing custom tabs to
organize and manage my business processes within LongJump. Exciting stuff.

Customization is what lead me to LongJump. In March 2008, as I understood
it, Salesforce was going to charge me for customizations beyond 5 "tabs". I have since created around 15 custom apps, each containing many custom
tabs, so I would have exceeded Salesforce's 5 tab limit quickly (costing
additional dollars). There are no customization limits or extra costs (other
than data storage costs) in LJ.

A couple of custom app success stories are...

- Converting a paper+Excel based marketing service that builds date driven
events for our clients into a LongJump powered custom app. My national staff
connect from their homes, complete their tasks, with the app then handling
many tasks (email, fax, etc.) via automation that was once done manually.

- I moved a direct mail marketing service originally developed in MS Access
+ Outlook to a custom LongJump app. The processing power of the LongJump
platform solved a huge bottleneck issue. I can now send thousands of pieces
of mail in one click. Before, my locally run solution could only process a
few hundred pieces per hour and would tie up internal hardware and network
resources.
* Any limitations you have experienced?

1. Storage rates need to improve. Price was just cut in half...now $25 per
50MB - and that's still ridiculous. Hard to understand this rate when I can
buy 1TB USB drive for under $200. Salesforce now offers 1 GB min for all
accounts to cover data and files. LongJump needs to match the market. 2. Are you an MS Access or SQL database user? Joining tabs within views is
not supported. Gets in my way. You can do 3 table (aka object) join in
reports, so that's some relief, but I would like my "relational data"
to...relate, easily. 3. A feature to copy the Data Policy (DP) object. The DPs are my favorite
part of Long Jump. Using plain English, business users can but the records
to work. Automate updates, send merged emails, force data integrity checks.
Huge feature. DPs let you leverage and automate your data. So...I now create
DPs often. And that's a problem since they can't be copied. Imagine having
to recreate a complex Word doc from scratch each time. I have a request in
to Support. 4. Data export has a glitch that needs to be addressed: exporting records
that contain double quotes (ex: html email body text) breaks the outputted
CSV file since LongJump only offers to use double quotes as text delimiters.
I have been told the next version will address this. 5. I have not found a LongJump user forum. I have used forums to learn how
to develop on other platforms. I have not spent much time searching for
users since LongJump is easy to learn and Support is excellent. 6. BPM (Business Process Management) tools. I have not spent time using
LongJump's Workflows which look like a good first step on creating and
managing and running Business Processes (BP) graphically. Based on what I
have read, the workflows are limited to the data (records) in one tab, which
I expect will block my creativity when it comes to leveraging my data. I may
want a BP that updates an Account with revenue recorded in the Opportunity
tab, and then goes on to mine related data in the Contact tab and other
custom tabs...driving a series of follow-up events (marketing, cross
selling, customer satisfaction).


* Have you used tech support and how responsive have they been?

Amazing. Best Support I have experienced in 20 years. The team has made
changes to the system based on my requests...kind of mind blowing. Example: I have a solution (this might be of use to your org) that allows me
to create emails and send them to a service that converts them into a paper
letters (imagine - I send thousands of pieces of mail with no Mail Dept and
no batching...direct from email to printed letter to Post Office to
recipient). This process requires a long subject line that contains the
target address. The LongJump system did not allow more than 100 characters
in the subject line (an arbitrary limit). I explained what I wanted to do
and why, and the Support Team worked with the Development team to make the
change to allow more characters. Your Sales Rep could probably pull a report on the many questions that
Support has provided to me and feature requests that they delivered shortly
after I requested.


* Overall impression of LongJump CRM system?

Easy to try. User cost is inexpensive and monthly pay-as-you-go was a great
fit for this small biz. Short learning curve. Quickly learned how to
customize and program with no code. Our Marketing and Sales activities use
the CRM, while our Production and Operations are now powered by our own
custom apps.


* If you had to do it over, what would you do differently?

I would have made more time to explore and use the built in email marketing
tools (Vertical Response). I never got around to using this excellent built
in marketing tool until recently, and instead was focused on sending email
using another (less effective) method.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:54:51 -0800 Hosted app issue http://bmamkt.posterous.com/hosted-app-issue http://bmamkt.posterous.com/hosted-app-issue Crazy - right as I ready to send process my second project, the LongJump CRM had a problem and stopped displaying hosted images. Good example of the problems you can hit using a hosted platform. Support responded to my ticket in minutes and had it fixed in an hour. Impressive.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:45:31 -0800 Recreating an app invention in my CRM in one day http://bmamkt.posterous.com/recreating-an-app-invention-in-my-crm-in-one http://bmamkt.posterous.com/recreating-an-app-invention-in-my-crm-in-one I just accomplished an exciting objective this morning where I created an "app" (as in "there's an app for that" - aka application) in my CRM (http://www.longJump.com) to handle the process of creating and sending US Postal mail for my "Birthday Party Sales Mailing" service clients.

I created a crude system using MS Access and Outlook about a year ago to run the then new service on. Now that I have signed many clients, I find my original solution does not scale. A part of my paper printing and direct mail sending process uses email.

How exciting that in one day I was able recreate my invention and make use of my CRM's incredibly powerful system capabilities (ex: the CRM can send thousands of emails per MINUTE while I can send a few hundred per HOUR), eliminating massive bandwidth limits that my own "home-office" grade equipment presented.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:01:22 -0700 LongJump CRM data limits lead me to Intalio CRM? http://bmamkt.posterous.com/longjump-crm-data-limits-lead-me-to-intalio-c http://bmamkt.posterous.com/longjump-crm-data-limits-lead-me-to-intalio-c
I got a email warning on Sat AM that I was almost out of data space again!

I pay $50 for F-I-F-T-Y MB...yes MB, not GB. That space gets used in a second when I send out email or faxes via the CRM since the CRM wants to make a note that I sent some marketing - good idea.

Except that I am a small org and can't accept that I should be hundreds each month for a few hundred MBs. And there is no end in sight since I only want to grow my CRM and use lots more database space.

Huge pain.

But, it seemed to be the norm. SalesForce has similar pricing.

I started writing to LongJump Support on Sat morning to let them know how sad I get when I end up in this jam, spending time review my data use, choosing to avoid buying more space by trying (they don't yet support exporting complex text - csv delimiters get hosed) downloading my data (mostly Activity records loaded with quotes that foobar csv format) and then delete records from my database. As a database junkie, deleting data is the dirtiest thing you can make me do.

While writing my support ticket to LongJump I Googled to see what Salesforce charges. Surprise! They include a GB with every account. Damn, that would cost me around $900 on LongJump.

See, this is my main problem with hosted CRM / platform services. Drive space seems cheap so why these prices.

Then I found something on Google called Intalio CRM.

http://www.intalio.com/products/crm/on-demand/

Wow! 25GB per user! Plus BPM (Business Process Modeling) and other hot features. Going to try their free trial. $45 per user is less than SalesForce and $15 more than LongJump, so pricing is in my range.

Will let you know what I find.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:54:43 -0700 Hotmail Team says "thank you" for being with us for 10+ years http://bmamkt.posterous.com/hotmail-team-says-thank-you-for-being-with-us http://bmamkt.posterous.com/hotmail-team-says-thank-you-for-being-with-us Wow - I had no idea that I have had the same Hotmail address for 10 years!


From: Windows Live Team [mailto:communications@microsoft.windowslive.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2009 7:09 PM
To: Chris
Subject: Hotmail Team says "thank you" for being with us for 10+ years

Windows Live

Thanks for using Hotmail for 10+ years!

That's right!

For roughly a decade you've been using Hotmail® to help keep your digital life in sync, and we just want to say thank you.

You've witnessed many dramatic improvements to Hotmail since it launched. Just imagine what the next 10 years will bring!

Back around the time you started using Hotmail...
Windows ® 98

Windows® 98

Was the hot new operating system!

Titanic

Titanic

Broke every box-office record imaginable.

Cell Phones

Cell Phones

Were largely considered unnecessary and annoying!

 
 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:34:35 -0700 Thieves using your own technology against you http://bmamkt.posterous.com/thieves-using-your-own-technology-against-you http://bmamkt.posterous.com/thieves-using-your-own-technology-against-you This gives us something to think about with all our new electronic
technology.

GPS

A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that someone she knew had their car
broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was parked on the
green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to
football fans. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote
control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the
dashboard.

When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked
and just about everything worth anything had been stolen.

The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the
garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house.
The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time
the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to
clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty
the house of its contents.

Something to consider if you have a GPS - don't put your home address in it.
Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you can still find
your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if
your GPS were stolen.


MOBILE PHONES

This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile
phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell
phone, credit card, wallet... Etc...was stolen.

20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him
what had happened, hubby says 'I received your text asking about our Pin
number and I've replied a little while ago.'

When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money
was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to
text 'hubby' in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20
minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.


Moral of the lesson:

Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact
list.

Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc....

And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts,
CONFIRM by calling back.

Also, when you're being text by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be
sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you don't
reach them, be very careful about going places to meet 'family and friends'
who text you.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:21:43 -0700 12 Facts About Entrepreneurs That Will Likely Surprise You http://bmamkt.posterous.com/12-facts-about-entrepreneurs-that-will-likely-0 http://bmamkt.posterous.com/12-facts-about-entrepreneurs-that-will-likely-0 1. The average and median age of company founders when they started their current companies was 40.

2. 95.1 percent of respondents themselves had earned bachelor’s degrees, and 47 percent had more advanced degrees.

3. Less than 1 percent came from extremely rich or extremely poor backgrounds

4. 15.2% of founders had a sibling that previously started a business.

5. 69.9 percent of respondents indicated they were married when they launched their first business. An additional 5.2 percent were divorced, separated, or widowed.

6. 59.7 percent of respondents indicated they had at least one child when they launched their first business, and 43.5 percent had two or more children.

7. The majority of the entrepreneurs in the sample were serial entrepreneurs. The average number of businesses launched by respondents was approximately 2.3.

8. 74.8 percent indicated desire to build wealth as an important motivation in becoming an entrepreneur.

9. Only 4.5 percent said the inability to find traditional employment was an important factor in starting a business.

10. Entrepreneurs are usually better educated than their parents.

11. Entrepreneurship doesn’t always run in the family. More than half (51.9 percent) of respondents were the first in their families to launch a business.

12. The majority of respondents (75.4 percent) had worked as employees at other companies for more than six years before launching their own companies.

Which of the above surprises you the most and alters your mental model of what entrepreneurs are like?

From...

On Startups blog

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:06:16 -0700 I just NEEDED Twitter http://bmamkt.posterous.com/i-just-needed-twitter-0 http://bmamkt.posterous.com/i-just-needed-twitter-0
Email has been acting odd for an hour.

I use email as a part of some of the marketing programs I run for my clients.

Messages started stacking up in my Outbox.

After about an hour of researching why Outlook might be sick, or if there was a way to speed up my delivery system, it hit me that maybe my provider was having a bad day and I should see what others are saying on....Google? Nah, not real time.

TWITTER! I hit www.Search.Twitter.com and in second found loads of 1and1.com users who were reporting seconds before that email was down. Damn that's a good use for Twitter. Makes dopes like me who suggest that all that people are Twittering about is how they are heading to the bathroom - look even more dopey!

So...I am going to make a quick scan of Twitter a regular part of my research process.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:54:04 -0700 Complementors http://bmamkt.posterous.com/complementors http://bmamkt.posterous.com/complementors

Another fine idea in Ben Hart's AUTOMATIC MARKETING is to create a list of businesses that are "complementors"!

I emailed 3 business last week. 2 are certainly what I used to call competitors, but as I reviewed their web site I found that we do not really offer the same services!

No response yet.

I also contacted list companies that I buy lists from each time I close a sale. I suggested that I might be able to help their prospects or past customers who are slow to reorder due to being in need of a specific service I offer. If the list company can connect us and I can help their prospect/client, I will need to...order a list from the list company!


Complementors

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Complementors is a term used to describe businesses that directly sell a product (or products) or service (or services) that complement the product or service of another company by adding value to mutual customers; for example, Intel and Microsoft (Pentium processors and Windows), or Microsoft & McAfee (Microsoft Windows & McAfee anti-virus).

Complementors are sometimes called "The Sixth Force" (from Porter's Five Forces model), a term which was coined by Adam Brandenburger.

Before its use in business, the word was used to describe a color that is complementory to another color.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementors

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:45:51 -0700 My first 24/7 Recorded Message Hotline http://bmamkt.posterous.com/my-first-247-recorded-message-hotline http://bmamkt.posterous.com/my-first-247-recorded-message-hotline
Another smart idea from Ben Hart's book "Automatic Marketing" was to setup simple recorded messages that offers useful information for whatever business type / industry that you serve.

On top of figuring out "what marketing to do" (thanks to Ben I now have some clear projects in mind and know what steps to take), finding the time and resources is huge challenge.

So...I used my iPhone yesterday to record a conversation with my partner Ray where I asked "what would he tell our prospects".

It's crazy - we were in Panera Bread, lots of noise, I am pointing my phone at Ray like some tech nerd. Ray convinced me to place it on the table and went on to give a short, genuine explanation about a service we offer (a direct mail program).

I took the recording last night and...


- converted the m4a file at www.convertfiles.com into a mp3 file

- Downloaded a free audio editor from www.audacity.sourceforge.net

- recorded an offer for a free market analysis at the end


- set up a 888 number on www.kall8.com ($2 / mo)

- put the phone to my PC speaker and played the recording into Kall8 as my message

- Setup an ad on Google Adwords promoting the free message and my free market research offer (I'm starting with a $1 / day)

Now I have this marketing working for 24/7 for the cost of: setup time, the Kall8 number and a Google Adwords campaign.

Isn't this exciting!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:16:52 -0700 Multimedia brochure - version 2 http://bmamkt.posterous.com/multimedia-brochure-version-2 http://bmamkt.posterous.com/multimedia-brochure-version-2

I had a good experience creating my proof-of-concept video brochure using Windows Movie Maker.

While creating version two, Windows Movie Maker choked on some files. Other users report that the "server error" was not easy to fix.

I found an awesome online video editor called www.JayCut.com

Good news: I used their new beta version two editor and created my version two video brochure in minutes!

Bad news: The v2 editor does not let you save your work!

So, I used a CamStudio.org to do a lame screen recording. My PC choked trying to play and record so the video quality is poor.

I just purchased Cyberlink PowerDirector 8 ($70) and will rebuild version 2 in that app while I wait for JayCut.com to make their version 2 editor live.

I am sure PowerDirector will blow JayCut away, but sometimes having hundreds of options can slow you down. Plus, I don't like installed software since I do marketing night and had to install PowerDirector at home. With JayCut.com I can login from anywhere anytime!


Here's my "version 2 video brochure"...

Resources...
- I used www.jaycut.com  in place of Windows Movie Maker
- images from www.bigstockphoto.com
- video from www.shutterstock.com
- the Excel video was created with freeware www.CamStudio.org
- I lost vid-quality due to my work-around where I captured the JayCut v2 video with the CamStudio app.

Shout out to Ben Hart's book "Automatic Marketing" www.directmarketinginstitute.com for inspiring me to start creating some multimedia marketing.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:55:12 -0700 My multimedia brochure - version 1 http://bmamkt.posterous.com/my-multimedia-brochure-version-1 http://bmamkt.posterous.com/my-multimedia-brochure-version-1 Very crude version 1 of my "multimedia brochure" is complete.
 I tried not to get bogged down on perfecting the script or trying to find
the perfect images or video clips. My focus was to complete a Version 1 -
asap.
 The plan: now that I have a "version 1", I can tweak and improve as needed.
Next I'll replace the place-holder images and video with licensed content
for a few dollars.

 Here's the simplest creation process I came up with...
- read and record flyer text into Audacity (www.audacity.sourceforge.net)
- drop audio recording into Windows Movie Maker (all Windows PCs have this)
- search www.BigStockPhoto.com for images
- search www.Pond5.com for video clips
- drop images and video that match narration into presentation
- save and upload to www.Youtube.com
- embed video on my website and into my email marketing

 I got a (shocking) quote of $3000 from someone who produces Flash
presentations, so being able to create some sort of multimedia content
within a few hours seems like a good alternative for now.

 Here's the multimedia brochure presentation...
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRsnJKCmwJA

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:30:32 -0700 Automatic Marketing http://bmamkt.posterous.com/automatic-marketing http://bmamkt.posterous.com/automatic-marketing
Reading an amazing booked called "Automatic Marketing - How to build a robotic, hands-free selling machine" by Ben Hart...very inspiring.

As suggested in the book, I am trying to create a simple video version of some of my marketing pieces. Will post a link when I have a version 1 ready.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:52:20 -0700 Be a hero - send problems my way http://bmamkt.posterous.com/be-a-hero-send-problems-my-way http://bmamkt.posterous.com/be-a-hero-send-problems-my-way EXCITING NEWS... BMA Marketing is now a consulting Partner & ReSeller of "Automation
Anywhere", an amazingly powerful piece of software that can automate any
kind of computer task, from the most complex to the very simple. Automate Windows applications, Web tasks or legacy applications. It is the
only automation software you will need.
 
Easier automation - No programming required. Create automation by recording
the steps you take. Or, use pre-defined automation templates, point & click
actions & sample tasks make automation effortless.
 
Business users with no programming or IT experience - can use the task
recording feature to record actions without writing scripts. Or use
pre-defined automation templates to create an intelligent, automated task in
minutes.
 
 
MY STORY...
 
I have a long history with Automation Anywhere, having used it years ago. I
meant to get my business a copy of this wonderful tool a long time ago, and
it's embarrassing how many issues I have cleared up in the last few days
since putting Automation Anywhere to work...
 
- I had 500+ fax numbers that needed to be moved from one system to
another...done.
 
- My QuickBooks system can now update my CRM, and vice versa...wow!
 
What's next? I have a bunch of failed fax numbers and email addresses that I
can now create a process around. The Automated Task will step through the
failure messages, locate the related contact records in my contact database
(CRM) and flag the fax/email as invalid and in need of research by my staff.
If the contact has spent money in the past, I could even have the automation
take another step and send a letter by US Mail letting them know that my
recent communication attempts have failed and that we need to talk and get
an update on their contact info - and current needs!
 
 
PLEASE SEND PROBLEMS MY WAY...
 
If you know of any businesses that are performing REPETITIVE time-consuming
tasks (invoicing, event management, email marketing, etc.) manually on their
computers over and over...please have them call or email me - you'll be a
hero for helping them find a way to eliminate productivity killing tasks.
 
Let's AUTOMATE!
 
Chris
 
Chris Swanson
BMA Marketing
800-603-3985 Ext 42

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:06:30 -0700 Automation! http://bmamkt.posterous.com/automation http://bmamkt.posterous.com/automation
 
I love automating business processes (email marketing, sending out invoices, notifying staff about tasks that are late, etc.). I have big plans to automate many more tasks like processing bounced email addresses and bad fax numbers as they fail. I have a long list of tasks that should be occurring on a regular basis.  Another task on my mind is to build an automated referral process that fires each time I get an order.
 
My CRM, www.longjump.com offers me many ways to automate. I can create data policies to change my data that run on a schedule or are triggered when data is changed. I can have my CRM send automated emails to my clients, prospects or staff - very cool!
 
A lot can accomplished in the CRM without complicated programming, but I often reach a point where programming is required and I find that my self taught programming skills get in the way.
 
I am about to start building automated processes using a program called www.AutomationAnywhere.com - I have used it in the past and am excited to be getting back into it. It gives you the ability to automate the endless tasks you do each day by watching and copying you. Your activity is turned into recorded steps. You can then edit and improve the steps and turn it all into an automated process - wow! You can build very sophisticated processes without knowing any programming languages.
 
Originally I was going to get around to ordering a new low cost PC that would do nothing but run these automated tasks. I've yet to get around to ordering the PC or even accepting that it is the right time to spend a few hundred dollars.
 
Then it hit me...use a "virtual" computer (aka Virtual Private Server or VPS)! For $29 a month I can "own" a VPS from service providers like www.1and1.com and connect via Remote Desktop as if the PC was in my office. I will run AutomationAnywhere on it and it will do nothing but run my automated tasks, forever.
 
I will blog more as I set up automated tasks. Contact me if you want to talk about setting up CRM and/or Business Process Automation for your organization.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Wed, 27 May 2009 19:17:06 -0700 Pocket laser projector http://bmamkt.posterous.com/pocket-laser-projector http://bmamkt.posterous.com/pocket-laser-projector
 
Awesome!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Wed, 27 May 2009 04:48:31 -0700 How to Tie the Perfect Tie... Every Time http://bmamkt.posterous.com/how-to-tie-the-perfect-tie-every-time http://bmamkt.posterous.com/how-to-tie-the-perfect-tie-every-time
 
Great short "how to" video clip from Tim Ferriss...

Click here

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:46:31 -0700 Promote Your Business With Coupons and Contests http://bmamkt.posterous.com/promote-your-business-with-coupons-and-contes http://bmamkt.posterous.com/promote-your-business-with-coupons-and-contes


Find out why offering customers coupons or giving them free products is beneficial for your business.

While the name guerrilla marketing was conceived in 1980 with the first guerrilla marketing book, there is evidence of guerrilla marketers way before that. In 1895, C. W. Post, the cereal manufacturer, offered the first money-off coupon ever issued in the United States. The one-cent off coupon came with Grape Nuts cereal. By turn of the century standards, this was very guerrilla-ish, and a lot of money. Today the use of coupons has grown so much that consumers have saved over $4 billion dollars since coupons were invented. Not bad for just a little clipping and redemption. Coupons bring a consumer to a business to spend more than the incentive cost of the coupon. That's the basic concept of using coupons. That's guerrilla marketing.

More...

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:20:46 -0700 Why Startups Should ALWAYS Compromise When Hiring http://bmamkt.posterous.com/why-startups-should-always-compromise-when-hi http://bmamkt.posterous.com/why-startups-should-always-compromise-when-hi

There’s a non-zero chance that you’re reading this because you were thinking:  “What the heck is he talking about?  Shouldn't startups be hiring the best people possible?  What's this about compromising?”

And, if you were thinking that, you’d be right.  Startups should hire the best people possible.  But, if you re-read the title, you’ll notice that I’m saying you should always compromise.  Why?  Because there’s no such thing as the absolutely perfect hire along every possible dimension.  If you recruit people that you think were a “no-compromise” hire, you’re deluding yourself with unrealistic expectations.  Nobody’s perfect (and if they are, you probably couldn’t recruit or afford them anyways).





Everyone you bring on is a compromise.  The trick is to compromise on the right things.

Let me explain.  Here are several different attributes or “dimensions of awesomeness” you might seek for your startup recruit:

1.  Passion:  Are they fired-up?

2.  Experience:  Have they done this particular job before?  Did they succeed at it?

3.  Intelligence:  Are they smart?

4.  Academics:  Do they have the right degree?  From the right place?

5.  Hunger:  Are they motivated?  Are they ambitious?

6.  Risk-Tolerance:  Can they share the risk?  Or, are they looking to make fair market value?

7.  Scrappiness:  Can they get by with little?  Are they resourceful?

8.  Loyalty:  Can you get them to commit to your cause?  Will they be fiercely loyal?

Those are just a few I thought of off the top of my head.  It’s by no means a complete list.  I intentionally left out things like “integrity”, because it’s hard to argue in favor of compromising on integrity.  That’s just plain stupid.

But just about all of the attributes listed above could be compromised a little in exchange for something else.  For example, if you were somehow able to grade a recruit along all these dimensions, you might find that someone scores “average” in the academics dimension — but is off-the-charts smart (happens all the time).  So, you might decide that it’s OK for them not to have an ivy league degree.  Or, someone might be so smart, passionate and entrepreneurial — but lacking in experience.  Perhaps that’s OK too.  Or, maybe you really do have to have the absolutely perfect person along every possible dimension, but they’re so good, you’re just not sure you’re going to be able to keep them engaged.  Perhaps you’ll have to compromise on the loyalty front.

The point is, like with just about everything related to startups (and lots of things in life), there are tradeoffs.  You need to figure out which dimensions are absolutely critical (where you will not give), and which ones you’re willing to compromise a little on.  There’s no right answer — it depends on your business, your culture, your values and your instincts. 

What do you think?  Which attributes of people do you value the most?  What would you be willing to compromise on, if you could get almost everything else?  What things do you hold inviolate — that you would never compromise on?  Please leave a comment.

From OnStartUps.com

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/6329/BMA_Logo2.JPG http://posterous.com/people/guQ32RwRY BMA Marketing BMA BMA Marketing Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:03:43 -0700 Automatic Money Flow http://bmamkt.posterous.com/automatic-money-flow http://bmamkt.posterous.com/automatic-money-flow
 
(From Tim Ferris' blog)

Case study: Michelle’s Automation System

To see how this will work, let’s use Michelle as an example:

automation-overview

Michelle gets paid once a month. Her employer deducts 5 percent of her pay automatically and puts it in her 401(k). The rest of Michelle’s paycheck goes to her checking account by direct deposit.

About a day later, her Automatic Money Flow begins transferring money out of her checking account. Her Roth IRA retirement account will pull 5 percent of her salary for itself. Her savings account will pull 5 percent, automatically breaking that money into chunks: 2 percent for a wedding sub-account, 2 percent to a house down-payment sub-account, and 1% for an upcoming vacation. (That takes care of her monthly savings goals.)

Her system also automatically pays her fixed costs like Netflix, cable, and insurance. She’s set it up so that most of her subscriptions and bills are paid by her credit card. Some of her bills can’t be put on credit cards—for example, utilities and loans—so they’re automatically paid out of her checking account. Finally, she’s automatically e-mailed a copy of her credit card bill for a monthly five-minute review. After she’s reviewed it, the bill is also paid from her checking account.

The money that remains in her account is used for guilt-free spending money.

To make sure she doesn’t overspend, she’s focused on two big wins: eating out and spending money on clothes.

She sets alerts in her Mint account if she goes over her spending goals, and she keeps a reserve of $500 in her checking account just in case. (The couple of times she went over her spending, she paid herself back using her “unexpected expenses” money from her sub-savings account.) To track spending more easily, she uses her credit card as much as possible to pay for all of her fun stuff. If she uses cash for cabs or coffee, she keeps the receipts and tries to enter them into Mint as often as possible.

In the middle of the month, Michelle’s calendar reminds her to check her Mint account to make sure she’s within her limits for her spending money. If she’s doing fine, she gets on with her life. If she’s over her limit, she decides what she needs to cut back on to stay on track for the month. Luckily, she has fifteen days to get it right, and by politely passing on an invitation to dine out she gets back on track.

By the end of the month, she’s spent less than two hours monitoring her finances, yet she’s invested 10 percent, saved 5 percent (in sub-buckets for her wedding and down payment), paid all of her bills on time, paid off her credit card in full, and spent exactly what she wanted to spend. She had to say “no” only once, and it was no big deal. In fact, none of it was.

(complete article..)

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