The Environmental Research Council will be manned by 13 faculties, with Professor Dara Entekhabi of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Earth Systems Initiative. Professor Dara Entekhabi is a Bacardi and Stockholm Water Foundations Professor.

The Bacardi Foundation-Stockholm Water professorship was launched in 1991 with assistance from the Bacardi Family to further improve the teaching and research capabilities of MIT in the area of global water conservation. With Prof. Dara Entekhabi at the head of the pack of the new environment research agency, it is clear that the professorship continues to serve its purpose.

Among Prof. Dara Entekhabi’s agenda is to analyze the current state of the planet’s environment and devise ways to counter the current environmental problems mankind is dealing with. The Bacardi-Stockholm Water professor is also concerned with the rapid rise in the world’s population and its impact not just to mankind but to the environment as well. The professor also stressed that such issue must be addressed immediately.

The Council will primarily cater to long-term environmental problems. The Council also asks for students to join the group’s efforts, with Prof. Dara Entekhabi citing that the students provide the “intellectual fire” for the Institute. It is clear that at Bacardi, environment is a high priority.

Link/Source:- An article detailing the information about the creation of the Bacardi Family’s new Environmental Research Council, which will be headed by Prof. Dara Entekhabi, MIT’s Bacardi Foundation-Stockholm Water professor.

Still, it took me a full four days of acute sickness before I was able to stop and allow myself to enjoy the break. Even then it was no inner leap of enlightenment that catalyzed the shift. Rather it was a little jumping spider who had made its home in my car.

While my wife was working I was driving Ella to get her to sleep (being sick, my patience was way too thin to deal with a tired and fussy baby). I noticed that our resident jumping spider had found its way onto the edge of the steering wheel. It seemed quite content to sit and observe as we zoomed down the straight and narrow. But when we came to a turn, that spider’s world suddenly turned upside down. Literally! That little guy or girl held on for dear life as the wheel spun one way. Then on the way back, Spidey must have thought “I’m outta here,” because it dropped down from a thread in search of more stable ground. That however turned out to be not such a great plan, because the momentum of the turn flung that spider right back into the steering wheel with a crash. At that point Spidey decided it would be best to hang on and ride out the storm.

When the turbulence ended and we were back on a straight stretch, that spider somehow knew exactly what it needed to do: It headed directly for the center of the steering wheel and planted itself firmly atop the Toyota logo. When we came to the next turn Spidey just went for a nice little spin, which it was able to neutralize by spinning in the opposite direction.

Watching the spider do its thing, I imagined myself on one of those amusement park rides where you stand up against a fence as it spins around really fast, so fast that it’s nearly impossible to push, or is it pull, yourself away from the fence. That’s sort of how I had been feeling in my sickness: dizzily pressed up against a wall, unable to peel myself off. Only unlike at an amusement park, this sickness was an involuntary ride, and it was showing no signs of slowing down.

Spidey’s demonstration was just what I needed to remind myself to come back to my center. Witnessing the innate wisdom of a spider, I was able to apply that same awareness to myself and re-imagine my own position. Like Spidey, I had a choice. What would it feel like in the center of the ride? And how would I get there?

For me, being in the center meant being fully in my sickness, not fighting it, not trying to push myself off of that wall. So all that day and the following day, I acknowledged my gratitude: for the sickness, for Ella, for my wife, for the time off. I basked in my sickness, taking naps and baths, sitting for long periods of time doing nothing and just generally loafing. It was wonderful. And the amazing thing is that by the end of that second day I felt great. Certainly not completely better, but my energy level was vibrant and flowing whereas before it had been stagnant and dull.

I believe it was the gratitude that shifted me into the center of that ride. Instead of worrying about all the stuff I was not doing, all the meetings I was missing, and all the money that was not coming in, I was able to stop and accept exactly where I was, and, indeed, acknowledge my gratitude for being there.

Just like that little spider, we get to choose how we experience each moment of our lives. We can enjoy the thrill of riding out at the edge, or choose the more stable, yet no less enlivening, ride in the center. Certainly there are times when being on the outer edge is appropriate, and even necessary, but I don’t need to live my life there. Neither did Spidey.

And neither do you. For many people the holidays can be a whirlwind of too much shopping, cooking, family, parties, eating, traffic, credit cards debts . . . well you get the idea. So this holiday season remember to periodically come back to your center. If you find yourself riding that dizzy edge, stop and take time to acknowledge your gratitude. No matter how turbulent your life might get, find something to be thankful for and let that gratitude draw you gently back towards your calm, stable center.

I’ve quoted Meister Eckhart before, and I’m sure I’ll do so again, but he stated it so simply and beautifully when he said, “If the only prayer you ever say is ‘Thank you,’ that will be enough.”

Thank you!

Edward Mills, MIM, is a life coach, teacher and speaker, empowering people to more joyfully and abundantly share their essential gifts with the world. You can sign up for his monthly ezine, Evolving Times, at his website: http://www.edwardmills.com or blog: http://www.evolvingtimes.com

Matt Soltis, in his book Strategic Networking, says, “Although an early supporter of business networking, I became quickly disillusioned with it as a mainstay of my marketing plan. I found that something was missing from those long sessions of glad-handing and exchanging business cards. I had collected a pocketful of business cards but little else.

“While I was analyzing my needs and talents it was pointed out by my personal coach that I had a behavioral style that lent itself to chatting, while listening took a back seat. How could I learn if I would not listen?

“At the next opportunity to network, I intentionally listened, never interrupted, and found myself very interested in the other person’s business. When I spoke, I asked questions, just a few, but selective so that they elicited answers about the other person’s needs. I had stumbled on to the answer I was looking for. I wasn’t there to find clients. I was recruiting others to look for my clients and pledging to reciprocate as I learned more about their business. I was participating in something I later described as strategic referral networking.”

So how can you approach networking from a prospective that ultimately leads to increased business? First, it is important to understand that developing a network is a process, and it is about building relationships. A key objective of effective networking is to find out about others - their concerns, problems, needs, and wants.

Become a problem-solver and a resource. Listen for problems you can help others solve, either directly or by referring them to someone else in your network.

Practice the fine art of questioning (and listening). Asking open-ended questions, and really listening to the other person’s responses, is one of the most important networking skills. Some key questions or statements you can use to elicit additional information include:

What would be an example of that?

Please expand on that.

Tell me more.

How do you do that?

Be curious. Develop a true interest in others, what they do, and what they need.

Follow up and stay in touch. Developing a network is not about attending a bunch of meetings, having a meal, and going home. After all, the word “work” is part of “network.” Remember, developing a network is a process. Ivan Misner, founder of BNI, describes networking as a process of developing visibility and credibility. Only then will your activities lead to profitability. It may take as many as five to 15 contacts with an individual over a period of weeks, months, or even years to develop the kind of visibility and credibility that leads to profitability.

Look for ways you can support your network members. It’s not always about doing business with or even referring business to them. Some ways for you to support your network members include:

Posting their information on your website or in your newsletter.

Inviting them to speak at an organization in which you are involved.

Doing joint promotional projects with them.

Distributing their information.

Nominating them for recognition and awards.

Inviting them to attend events with you.

Arrive early, stay late, and get involved. Take a leadership role in the organizations you are involved in. It’s a great way of becoming more visible and developing greater credibility with a larger number of people in a shorter amount of time.
Focus on giving, not getting. If you look for ways to assist others, you will be rewarded for your efforts both directly and indirectly in unexpected ways.

Don’t keep score. “Successful networking is never about simply getting what you want. It’s about getting what you want and making sure that people who are important to you get what they want, too,” said Keith Ferrazzi during a January 2003 interview for Inc. magazine. Or as Sandra Yancey, founder and CEO of eWomenNetwork quotes her mother as saying, “Give without remembering and take with out forgetting.”

In addition to the ultimate reward of increased business, effectively developing your network will bring you:

Different prospectives

Information

A support team

Connections

Strategic alliances

Access to resources

Advice and Ideas

More potential solutions

In his book, Soltis points out another value of networking: the ability to bring your clients value-added relationships through referring them to the right individuals to help them solve all of their personal and business dilemmas - whether it is a tax question, temporary housing, or a place to board an exotic pet.
As you determine the role that networking plays in your business-building strategies, ask yourself these questions:

How can I assist the members of my network?

What are their needs?

What resources can I bring to them?

What connections can I help them make?

What can you expect if you put in the time and effort required to develop an effective network? To paraphrase Yancey, from her CD, Increase Your Net Worth by Developing Your Network: A strong network brings the power to make things happen and provides a safety net when things aren’t going so well.

© 2004 Strategies-by-DESIGN. May be reprinted with credits and contact information.

Julie Chance is president of Strategies-by-Design, a Dallas-based marketing consulting firm specializing in marketing programs including marketing coaching for professional service providers. If you are interested in additional information about how to develop more leads, turn those leads into loyal customers, and obtain a greater return from your marketing investment, Julie invites you to sign-up for their free marketing tips newsletter at http://www.strategies-by-design.com.

At the present time many online video production companies operate to satisfy business objectives of different organisations. Apart from businesses presentations, videography is also used to capture precious events of life such as anniversaries, birthdays, special celebrations; summer holidays and so forth. Handheld camcorders with digital chips are now commonly available on the consumer market. Short films have become quite popular on top of being very enlightening and engaging. In truth videos allow individuals to relate better to the subject matter than any other brand of communications.

Today, quite a few people are setting up video production and publishing agencies as demand of these kinds of businesses are rising. It is also possible to get hold of ample information from the World Wide Web in relation to video production & publishing just with a few mouse clicks. The rise of video industry has helped the expansion of commercials and to prepare good-looking commercials, a high-quality video production and publishing firm is indispensable. Videos play key task in implementation of business plans & at this moment online video marketing and publishing is a popular concept with the web users. As a result, across the globe online video production plays a major role. Vidify offer unique video production and distribution solutions. Visit the website.

Psychic advice is the counseling or guidance provided by a psychic. Psychics use several techniques like astrology, numerology, intuition, clairvoyance, spirit guides, auras, spells, channeling, Clairaudience, the ability to hear or perceive sounds which are not normally audible or clairsentience, knowing about an event-past, present or future, through a feeling.

A more commonly known psychic ability is clairvoyance, the extrasensory perception of an event, which does not relate to the senses. Divination claims the capacity to prophesize, predict or foretell the future by practicing the occult arts, while hiero is manifested as automatic writing, painting or drawing. Precognition is the ability to see forward in time and prophesy involves predicting a future event under the influence of divine guidance.

Psychometrics alleges the ability to derive knowledge about an object or a person connected with it by coming into contact with the object or person and psycho kinetics can move objects with the mind. Remote viewers can describe a person, place or thing without being in their presence and finally, telepathics communicate mind to mind.

Psychic advice can be about: wealth, job or career, health, relationships, love, fulfilling dreams and even past lives. Psychics claim they can help clients see barriers to success, outcomes of a particular situation, destiny, dreams and more.

There are a few psychics who offer psychic advice for a fee but this is uncommon. The Internet is just one source for finding a psychic.

Psychics provides detailed information about psychics, psychic readings, psychic medium, psychic healing and more. Psychics is the sister site of Phone Psychics.

Today? A few days ago? A while back? Never?

For most of us it’s been some time… But does that mean we are anything short of magnificent?

We easily recall the times when someone tells us we did wrong, when we were made to feel bad for trying and getting it wrong; when we’ve been reprimanded or punished for a mistake that happened in a momentary lapse in concentration or due to a lack of understanding. Yet life can be simple and a lot less complicated, especially when we have true gratitude and appreciation for the unique being that is us.

Just take a moment and mull this over:

>From the moment we were born we had the innate intelligence to breath and within seconds we learned how to cry, screw up our face and wiggle our fingers and toes. Within hours we’d learned to recognise our mother by smell. And in the days that followed learned who and what we liked, and what we didn’t. And pretty soon the miracle that is you and me, learned to walk talk, eat and throw up.

We are brilliant, aren’t we? In fact we are more brilliant. Let me show you…

Before you left school, did any of your teachers sit you down, and ask: ‘How will you use your unique gifts in the world? Did they even explore the term ‘unique gift’ with you? My guess would be that during your entire school life, you’d have been extremely lucky if anyone ever spoke to you about your uniqueness.

But just because someone didn’t explore the issue of your uniqueness with you, it doesn’t mean you are not unique. It just means you may have forgotten the great and wonderful thing you are and maybe not yet explored the real beauty and wonder that is you…

And these same people - our teachers and our leaders and our media, even our parents (or especially our parents depending on upbringing) - they have forgotten to impart a few other vital bits of information. Like what?

Well, advice on love and romance for one thing. I think you’ll agree sharing love with another is a vital part of life. We all want it, don’t we? It’s the thing that make our hearts sing; it’s what makes the world go round and it’s what we yearn for when we don’t have it.

So what gem could our teacher and parents told us about love that would have been vital to us… if they had known it themselves…

You’re probably familiar with the term, Soul-mate. Its seems a lovely concept, but a bit of a day-dream on the surface. But is it? I often hear people saying, “I want to find my soul mate”. But did anyone point out to you that it would be impossible for your true soul-mate to discover your soul, before you discovered it?

It stands to reason that if you don’t know about your own uniqueness and power and understand about your purpose for being here, then neither will any mate. In fact what you’ll most probably discover is a person who shows you all your flaws and who shows you how far you are from your soul!

Am I blaming our teacher and our parents?

Not really. I don’t think they knew any better. But if we are to live a life of true happiness then it is important that we tap into our wisdom and explore our uniqueness and our soul-mate relationships and explore how we can be all we can be, otherwise we and the next generation, our kids, will continue to flounder in the dark for generation after generation.

You’ve been tagged now! You now have the responsibility to do something different!

But it doesn’t have to be a burden.

What can be done?

Find teachers who identify with your true wonder and can guide you. Explore your full potential. Play with the possibility that you can have everything you want.

Here Are Some
“Mental Performance” Statements
AKA: Positive Thinking Affirmations …

You Can Use And Practice
To Put Yourself In A Comfortable Frame Of Mind,

Before Talking To Your Prospects …
To Help You Get Started And To Stay Motivated.

I’m A Master Of Marketing
Talking To Prospects Is Easy For Me
I’m Talking To A Friend
I Really Care About This Person
I’m Great At Asking Questions
I’m A Wonderful Listener
I’m Much Better Than An Ordinary Salesperson
My Skills Go Far Beyond What A Salesperson Does
I’m Caring, Real And Human
I Want To Know Your Concerns
If I Know Your Concerns, I Know What To Say To You
I Want To Know What You Think
I’m Great At Asking “What If?”
I’m Unattached To Getting My Result
I Imagine My Success
I Feel My Success
I Trust Myself
I Trust Myself To Know What To Say
I’m Ready To Share My Talents And Gifts With The World
I Always Ask For The Business
After Asking, I Shut Up & Wait
I’m Grateful
I’m Grateful That You’re Taking The Time To Talk With Me
I’m Grateful That You’re Sharing Your Thoughts & Concerns
I’m Grateful That You’ve Allowed Us To Have This Time Together
The More No’s I Get, The More Yes’s I Know I Will Get
I’m Really Good At What I Do
I Love Talking To People
Hearing The Word No, Energizes Me
I Get Energized By “No” Because It Brings Me Closer To Hearing My Next “Yes”
I Learn Something From Every Conversation
I’m Getting Better & Better Each Time I Use Sunny’s Method
I’m Generous & Gracious
It’s Easy For Me To Tell People What I Want For Them
It’s Easy For Me To Tell Them What I Want For Myself
It’s Easy For Me To Ask For What I Want
I’m Unattached From Hearing “Yes” Or “No”, I Just Ask & Wait
I’m Succeeding More & More With Every Call, Regardless Of The Outcome
I Like This
I’m Good At This
I’m Going To Keep Going
I’m Persistent
I Believe In Myself
I Believe In My Abilities
I Believe In My Skills
Everybody Likes Me
Everybody Likes Me Whether They Know It Or Not
The Entire Universe Loves Me
I Love Myself
I’m Proud Of Myself
I’m Successful
I’m Enthusiastic
I’m Naturally Enthusiastic
I’m Positive & Happy
I’m On My Way
I’m Enjoying The Journey
I Can Do This

Recite These Statements Out Loud
OR Silently To Yourself
Right Before Making A Prospecting Call

THESE AFFIRMATIONS ARE THE TRUTH FOR YOU NOW!

Sunny Hills is “The Affirmations Genius” (TM).
Get His Free Weekly Positive Thoughts At: http://www.sunnythoughts.com

In this essay, we’ll focus on getting old clients to come back and referrals. How do you get them? How do you ask for them? How do people choose to come back? How can you get people back when they don’t want to come back?

I recently did a keynote at a Dentist’s Conference. The dentists were very uncomfortable asking for business, assuming that if they gave great care, had good patient relations, and had a wonderful office, the patients would know they were supposed to come back. Except 50% or more didn’t return. I suggested the following action: call the patient and say:

“Hi Mr. Jones. Dr. Smith here. I just realized that the last time we saw you was 8 months ago. I’m wondering if you have any thoughts about coming back for additional care? I’d love to take care of your dental hygiene with you, and wonder what you’d need to see from me to feel comfortable coming back for follow up?”

USING FACILITATIVE QUESTIONS TO KEEP CLIENTS ACTIVE

Facilitative Questions like this will help clients who have bought your product at least once to decide to come back again. But, how do you get folks to bring in their friends, short of asking them point blank: “Would you refer your friends for me please?”

Obviously, whether or not to use you, or choose your product, is a decision the person or company has to make. How do they choose to go out of their way to tell their friends or colleagues about you?

Here are some ideas:

If you own a company, your product and your service will bias further business opportunities. Get to know how customers perceive your product and service (and the service is even more important than the product). In some way connect and ask if you’ve given them what they deserve, and ask what they need to consider in order to recommend that their friends to do business with you:

* send a questionnaire;

* call the client to make sure they are happy;

* send an email;

* offer a gift - 10% off next purchase, etc.

Whatever it is, make sure it’s easy for them to administer. There have been many gifts I’ve been offered if I make a referral but the gift is too difficult to get to - either it’s technology that I have a difficult time downloading, or something I have to send away for. Too hard.

REFERRALS THROUGH FACILITATION

The other thing you can do is use a Facilitative Question that helps the client - or patient - decide to take an action:

“I hope you enjoyed the support/product/care you got from us. I’m also hoping that we made you happy enough to tell your friends about us, so that maybe we can offer your friends and colleagues the same level of care that we offered you. What would you need to see from me to know we could support folks you know, and make it comfortable for you to refer us?”

For some reason, we all assume that if we do good work, we’ll be referred. But sometimes, people just plain forget. And sometimes, we’ve left something undone that makes it difficult to fix because we don’t know we’ve done anything.

People who come back on their own return because you’re giving them what they want in a way that they want it. If they don’t like what they got from you, they won’t come back - and, most likely won’t offer you the reason unless you ask specifically (most people either don’t want to bother when they’ve gotten back service, or would be willing to tell you if you specifically asked).

I was doing some phone coaching with a long-standing client once. I listened while he had a delightful conversation with an old client whom he hadn’t done business with for a while. They spoke about social things - their vacations, their families, their jobs. It was obvious that no business was mentioned: it was, in his terms, a ‘relationship call’. I wrote a Facilitative Question down on the paper in front of him, and my client - as per arrangement - repeated it to his client:

“I’ve noticed that your patterns went from giving us regular orders to giving us no business at all. What has stopped you from doing business with us recently?”

The client gave a surprising answer:

“Last time we did business, you left us with an implementation problem that you didn’t fix. We asked you 3 times to come back in and fix it, and you claimed it wasn’t your problem, but that we had created the problem internally. So we hired a consultant who fixed the problem for us and it cost us $8,000. After that we had to take your name off of our preferred vendor list and we aren’t allowed to use you again. But since I’ve always liked you, I’ve been willing to have these social conversations with you.”

My client went white. He was stuck - his client had tried to discuss the problem, and the response was inadequate. Asking him for more business, or a referral, was not appropriate.

For those of you who are curious, we did solve the problem by using a Facilitative Question and an apology:

“My goodness! What a mess I left you in. I’m so, so sorry and sad, and we deserve not to do business with you anymore. And I’m angry with myself that I didn’t even ask until now. What would you need to see from me to be willing to let us to make it up to you somehow? I would like to get to the point in which we could find a way to work together again, if that would ever be possible, but certainly not until you are in a position to trust us again. How can I go forward now in order to right that wrong?”

THE EGO PROBLEM

The biggest problem with asking for referrals is our egos. We want to be able to say, “Look at ME! Did I give you a great product/service, or WHAT? Don’t you think you should have your buddies give me some business now?”

But of course we can’t do that. So we follow the business route: send out questionnaires, get evaluations, offer promos. But I’m a big believer in calling clients specifically to request referrals, and to use that time to get some unexpected feedback on how you’re really doing.

Here are a couple of questions you might ask clients:

* “How did you experience our overall service? How could it have been improved?”

* “What would you have needed to see from me/us to be willing to pass on our names to others?”

By using Facilitative Questions, you can not only help your clients decide how to refer you, but help them decide how to help you be even better than you already are. We can always be better, but we need our clients to tell us how.

Sharon Drew Morgen is the author of NYTimes Best seller Selling with Integrity. She speaks, teaches and consults globally around her elegant, doable sales model, Buying Facilitation.

http://www.newsalesparadigm.com

http://www.sharondrewmorgen.com

512-457-0246
Morgen Facilitations, Inc.
Austin, TX

There is no easy road to financial freedom. The path is riddled with potholes. Sometimes, things do not go as planned. More often than not, there is a big world of difference between planned and actual. Reality sometimes springs some nasty surprises.

You need to know upfront that things will very likely not go as planned. Sometimes it does. You need to be ready to give all it takes, and to pay the price. If you desire financial freedom hard enough, you will find in yourself the inner strength to rise up each time you stumble. Success does not just happen. If you believe the pop up ads on financial freedom that assault you online, you can believe anything. Nothing valuable and enduring comes easy. There is nothing like increase without labor (physical, mental or both). It is a basic law of nature. If you attempt to violate this principle, you are on your own.

When things go wrong, it is a good time to stop and re-evaluate what you are doing.

You may be doing something wrong. Go over your processes and make amends. Read up some more and acquire more skills and techniques. Work smart. Pure hard work does not take you far these days unless you work smart. Continuous improvement is the key. Get better by the day. A setback is a good opportunity to learn. Success makes you feel cool; you are doing just fine. Failure or setback sends you right back to school. You come out stronger and wiser.

You may be heading the wrong way. No matter how far down the road you go, if you are on the wrong road, the only way home is to turn off and retrace your steps. Get the correct road map before you proceed. If you find out further down the wrong that you are using the wrong map, shut down and begin again. You may have wasted a lot of time, energy and resources on a wrong venture. As painful as it is, your best way forward is to cut your losses and call it a day. Start afresh, on the right path this time. Who you are and where you are going is the major determinant as to what the right path for you is.

It may even be that you are on the right path, doing the right things. Hang on there. Don’t give up. You don’t know how close you are to a breakthrough. Sad stories abound of people who gave up just before dawn. If you are on the right path doing the right things, then keep on keeping on. You may not see the results from where you are standing. It does not mean that you are not making progress; it’s just that it is not obvious to you, or those around you. Keep at it. Your progress curve may be going flat, don’t give up. You have to go through midnight before you hit dawn. When you cannot see beyond your nose, it is quite tempting to throw in the towel and return home. See it through to the finish line.

Don’t lose sight of your dream, don’t allow circumstance make you lose focus and go looking for a short cut or quick fix. Easy come, easy goes. Stay true to yourself. The experiences you go through in the journey and the person you become after going through the process is much more important than the destination itself. Nothing satisfies more than being yourself, who you were born to be.

Usiere Uko is the webmaster of the Financial Freedom Inspiration website and editor of the monthly Financial Freedom Inspiration Newsletter, a free ezine to inspire you to exit the rat race and fulfill your God given dreams. To subscribe or visit the site, please click on the URL below. http://www.financial-freedom-inspiration.com. He is also webmaster of http://www.newdawninspiration.com

Especially when you’re over committed and could use a little help.

All too often, new business owners decide they don’t need to hire any
outside services. You know how it goes….”I can do this myself. How
tough can it be? It’s just a simple direct mail campaign.”

Big mistake! Trying to do it all yourself …unless it’s your area of
expertise….usually costs you more in the long run. And most of the time,
the work looks pretty unprofessional.

Here’s the scenario…

You’re starting a consulting business. You decide you need business
cards, a logo, a handout of some sort and a website. Pretty basic. You
figure you can hire the right people and manage these projects yourself.

So you do. You brainstorm some names for the company, run them by a
few friends and select one for your business. Next you find a designer
whose work you like and meet with her. You describe the services you’ll
offer and what colors you do and don’t like. Maybe you’ll even have
some sketches of what you think your logo should look like.

So the designer (working with minimal direction) starts to work. Unless
you’ve given her detailed information on your target market, your niche,
how you see your identity developing, this designer is pretty clueless.
But she comes up with some designs. Once again, you go to some
friends and family members for feedback. Based on the general
consensus, you select a design (hopefully, it will fit with your company
name and what you do). You can now either leave it up to the designer
to get printing quotes for your business cards and stationary. Or you can
do it yourself and get some price comparisons. You’ll need to know
what type of stock you’d like, paper weight, quantities, etc.

Next you want to start on some sort of handout or brochure. Do you stick
with your logo designer? If so, better make sure you’ve seen some
samples of brochures she’s done. Often designers specialize in one
product or another. I’ve worked with great logo designers who can’t do
other collateral.

And what about your web site? Is your logo designer also able to do
site design? What about development? Not all designers are
developers. In fact, most aren’t. The best developers I’ve found started
out as web folk, whereas my best designers are sticking to what they do
best - graphic design.

You also need to decide how many pages your site will be, what they
are (the menu), how you want the site to lay out (site map), whether or
not you need a dynamic or static site, what elements need to be
included, etc.

Still happy with your decision? Better make sure you nail down the
costs on all of this so you’re not surprised upon completion.

Lastly, don’t forget about the copy. You need some for your brochure.
You need different copy for your website. They’re different types of
marketing tools and the copy needs to be written in a different style for
each. But everything needs to work together (be integrated) so you
don’t look like a fractured company. Your brochure and website should
have the same look and feel….but the approach is different.

If you’re still managing this yourself — kudos. Especially if you have time
to do any selling or networking or research. Because you’ve taken on
full-time work as a marketing person/project manager.

To think…. you could have saved yourself a lot of aggravation and time
if only you’d called in a marketing specialist at the beginning. Then
you’d have one person who could manage all the above projects for you:

• working with the designer (or designers) and developers to making
sure everyone involved understood what you do and who you do it

• reviewing, rejecting, and/or approving designs before you ever see
them

• writing copy appropriate for each product

• proofreading
• overseeing all the various vendors to make sure workflow is on
schedule and work is correct

… and only calling you for selection, fact verification or final decisions.

Then again, maybe you like a challenge. Or maybe you just need to
micromanage everything. Because by the time you’re done, you’re
likely to end up with a disjointed marketing “program” (for lack of a better
word). And when and if you finally do call in a marketing person to
revise your marketing material, you’ll probably find that turning
everything over to a specialist — who does this all the time - would
actually have cost you less than doing it yourself.

At least you’ll know better next time.

Rickey Gold & Associates is a small, hands-on marketing
communications firm that helps clients identify, reach, entice and sell to
their target markets.
http://www.rickeygold.com
rg@rickeygold.com

773.348.4973