Free Copies and Faxes

Office Depot is helping customers take care of business by offering customers free copies of resumes and free faxing from April 19 to May 30, 2009.

Customers will be able to participate in this special offer by visiting the Design, Print, & Ship Depot center in any one of the more than 1,100 Office Depot retail store locations nationwide. Office Depot is providing free copies of resumes, up to 25 single-sided pages, as well as free faxing to five different domestic numbers, up to 25 pages in total.

Customers can choose to upgrade their resume paper selection to a color or premium paper from Southworth for a nominal fee.

For more information, please visit your local Office Depot retail store location or www.officedepot.com.

First Impression, Lasting Impression?

I recently joined the millions of people who are enthralled with Susan Boyle. I headed to You Tube, and watched, completely transfixed, the 7 minute+ video of Susan and her awkward, somewhat spinsterish presence belt out a tune that left me speechless. The judges’ comments were appropriate, shocked but compelled, and extremely enthusiastic.

Susan Boyle is a great illustration of not being able to judge a book by its cover; first impressions in this case were not at all lasting, fortunately for Susan. However, in an interview situation, can we expect the same?

I would hope that employers keep Susan in mind as they begin an interview process. Having a visual standard for a position is certainly normal, appropriate, and to be expected. However, if a judgment had been made solely based on appearances, we would have never heard Susan sing.

Again, having standards for appearance, style and delivery is expected and required. I do feel strongly however that during the interview process, it is important to minimize emotions and judgments in order to concentrate on a candidate’s results. Some potential employees will be unconventional in one way or another. Some don’t interview well. However, if there is a track record along with current references to suggest this is a super star, you should avoid the temptation to eliminate, just as the judges did with Susan Boyle.

Simply put: make decisions based on a candidate’s results and overall performance. One well known consultant suggests an interview style which truly embraces this philosophy – he recommends only asking one question during an interview to obtain all of the information required: “what was your greatest achievement in the course of your career?” (For more information on the one-question interview, please feel free to contact me).

To check out Susan’s performance, feel free to use the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk

Applicant Mistakes with Twitter, Facebook and MySpace

In the past mistakes with technology were limited to things like pressing “reply all” instead of “forward” and mistakenly sending personal messages to more than the intended recipient. Today, with people sharing everything from what they ordered as their morning coffee to how their date went last night, it is much easier to have the wrong information arrive in the hands of a potential or current boss.

I recently read an article about a job applicant who completed a first interview at a major corporation. She left the meeting and proceeded to post a response on Twitter that essentially explained that although a job offer was expected she would really have to evaluate whether she would want to take a job where she hated the work (and listed the company name). An employee of the corporation read her “Tweet” and proceeded to not only investigate who the hiring manager was, but posted the candidate’s personal information on the web for all to see. One innocent “Tweet” and in an economy where all opportunities should be cherished, those who are well versed in the web essentially black balled the candidate.

Another story of interest: many of you have probably seen the You Tube video of David – the boy who went to the dentist and woke up under some serious medication. His father taped the boy in order to show his mother who could not be there, and eventually decided to post the video on You Tube for a few other family members to view. Never having used the site before, they did not click the correct options and allowed anyone who had an interest to see the video. Who knew poor David would be viral sensation? With millions of hits and plenty of parenting groups involved, a somewhat innocent video has caused an investigation and a lot of unwanted attention.

People’s personal lives now seem to be on display in a way that they never have before. Along with this open forum, many corporations have shared that they now make a routine check of sites like Twitter, Facebook and My Space as a part of the screening process – from those applying to college, to those applying for a promotion, what you post can be an important factor in the total package of who an organization selects.

I am not suggesting that you don’t participate in the streaming technology of the present and have stuck my little toe into the pool with LinkedIn and a new Twitter account. However, I strongly caution those participating to heed the advice of my mother and remember “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”. On top of that age old wisdom, I would suggest that you double check the privacy settings on all of your accounts – if not properly set, anyone can see your post and those of your friends. Try to look at your accounts with fresh eyes and ask yourself if you were applying for a job, would you hire yourself as you are represented on the site?

Twitter

This week I’ll dive a bit deeper into Twitter as I continue my personal decision process as to the benefits versus the time investment of the new (to me) information streaming technology.

I am looking to support and expand my business as the primary result of the sites (rather than personal gain) and so I enjoyed this article on How to Generate Contacts, Leads and New Clients. I hope you do as well.

Enjoy!
David Lammert

Twitter: How to Generate Contacts, Leads and New Clients
Abridged: Community Marketing Blog, By: Andrew Ballenthin and Leesa Barnes

We’ve been asked by numerous professionals, “Can you actually get new leads and a payback by using Twitter?” It’s a fair question, especially during tight economic times when any sales and marketing effort has to survive and thrive for the efforts invested. The following tips are based on feedback from professionals who have participated in emails, blog comments and various professional online Group discussions who have gained real leads and new clients as a result of working with twitter.First, Get To Know The Culture Of This Unique Social NetworkFirst and foremost keep in mind that the majority of rules for effective networking, lead generation, relationship building, and branding apply to twitter. In addition, twitter has a number of its own cultural norms that if not followed will work against your efforts and result in a waste of time and potentially leave you with a bad reputation.

Some of twitter’s important cultural norms are:
* Do Not Push A Sale – Follow the golden rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.
* Don’t Do Pushy Welcomes – When thanking someone for following don’t hard sell, just be polite.
* Have A Consistent Brand – Don’t be too diverse, too controversial or too personal unless you are going to consistently portray this brand image. Stay within your company's culture.
* Do Ask For Help – Ask your base for feedback and how to do it better.
* Don’t Say Things You Can’t Take Back – Count to 10 or you could regret the damage you do to yourself.

The Good Stuff, How to Generate Leads and Potentially New Clients
Based on feedback from numerous professionals who generated leads and new clients here are some of the things they did that worked. In all cases theses professionals piqued a follower’s interest through a variety of approaches which lead to contact and actual business activity that followed. Like any new relationship, don’t expect results overnight.

Be ready to invest weeks or months at this process the same way you would invest in offline networking or industry events. The good news is, just like offline networking, sometimes great things can happen unexpectedly.

Tweet about what you’re working on
* People are interested in what has your attention.
* Share the projects you're working on and the tools you're using.
* You'll find that people are eager to share the tools they have found useful or may ask you for your recommendation.
* This helps build relationships.

Tweet on interesting industry information
* Be the first to share interesting industry news. Over time, if done consistently, it will help you stand out in your industry as a valuable resource.
* Share useful trivia – for example a blog post, an article, a recently released report.
* Share the URL with others so they can read it.
TIP: shorten the URL so it fits in your tweet, use twitpwr.com or budurl.com as they both track clicks.

Include your twitter URL on marketing communications
* You want your following to be composed of people that want your information.
* Add your twitter address to emails and online and offline marketing materials.
* If twitter is going to be a key way to let people know about your business, promote it heavily.
* Let your offline networks know you’re on twitter. It gives them a way to get to know you and build relationships.
* Prospects can get valuable updates and may build trust due to shared insights/news.
* Many companies use twitter for news releases, research, building relationships and more.

Put energy into building relationships
* Find ways to help others get what they want, practice good networking skills.
* Respond to other’s tweets if there is a common interest. Do it consistently for them to get to know you.
* Send DM’s (Direct Messages) when the information is more personal.
* Follow natural relationship building rules you would apply with any new contact.
* Retweet valuable information to help a follower achieve their goals.

Promote your product/services in the context of your followers
The general rule is: you get leads and sales by doing all the other points in this article effectively.

* Talk about projects you work on, trade shows, campaigns, challenges your company faces.
* Share new valuable applications for your products and service.
* Don’t push credibility by over blowing the real value of what you have.
* If you have followers that are looking for deals twitter is great for getting the word out.
BUT – if you’re brand isn’t about using twitter as a sales generation channel you can risk turning followers off when you do try to sell as you may be contradicting your prior brand image.
If you push too hard you’ll know, followers will drop off or you simply won’t see any results.

Retweet other people's tweets
* Similar to an email forward, if you like the tweet, retweet it.
To do so, just put RT: @username in front of the contents of the tweet.
* Ideas become viral, products/services don't.
TIP: use retweetist.com to track how many times a tweet has been retweeted
* Create relationship value by helping others solve problems or find solutions.

Share your lifestyle
Most overlooked, share a part of who you are. Just like offline talk, people want to know who you are.
* People want to see how your successes match up with your lifestyle.
* If you're a self made millionaire, share info on the holidays you're taking.
* If you're an up and coming expert, go to events and tell people about the celebrity experts you met.
* If you believe in a 4-hr workweek, share details about your outsourced life.
* Results sell, you don't have to.
* Make your comments relevant to your brand otherwise it can cause confusion and put people off.
* One of the biggest musts of social media is build trust by being genuine.

Facebook vs. Twitter

If you are like me, the thought of investing the time and energy into another networking site seems daunting. I am a loyal user of LinkedIn and enjoy the professional networking of this site, but everyday I seem to receive a new request to engage myself on Twitter or Facebook, hear another news item on the power of either of these mediums, and wonder if I am really missing something.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll spend some time discussing these platforms as I continue my own personal journey as to which one or whether to engage. I hope you find the discussion and articles helpful.

Enjoy!
David Lammert


Facebook vs. Twitter: How will you stream your world?
Abridged: Cnet News, By: Caroline McCarthy

The future will be streamed.

Earlier this week, Facebook unveiled a few notable product revamps: "fan pages" for brands that look and act more like regular member profiles, and a redesigned home page that emphasizes a real-time version of the site's iconic news feed. The keyword here is "streaming," encouraging an even more extensive flow of information with a status update prompt that asks, "What's on your mind?"

Needless to say, "What's on your mind"--which also allows the posting of links, videos, and other content to news feeds--bears quite a bit of resemblance to Twitter's "What are you doing?" prompt. So, especially in light of more rumors and reports about Facebook's spurned attempt to acquire Twitter, expect comparisons between the two services as means of ultra-customized media consumption to escalate.

When Facebook unveiled its redesign I predicted that we'd hear a lot more about the news feed as the new personal portal. That's sort of what many prolific Twitter users have turned the service into, too. Our Twitter feeds, after all, deliver a whole lot more than updates about what kind of beers our friends just ordered at happy hour: Depending on what you subscribe to, you can get ski reports, links to news headlines and blog feeds, mini-recipes, and celebrity stalking.

But for all the talk about brands building presences on Twitter, Facebook may have gained a slight lead here. I spoke on Thursday to Dan Hart, senior vice president and general manager of MTV Digital, about how the Viacom-owned entertainment brand is using the new Pages to push out more content to members' news feeds. For the first time, brands using Fan Pages can set "status" messages, too, which MTV plans to use for news and updates.

"The status update function is effectively becoming a publish function, and that publish function is text, photos, video, a variety of media," Hart said, "and that media is experienced more as a real-time stream by a Facebook user, and the Facebook user has more control over what occurs in that stream."
That's basically what media companies do with Twitter accounts. And Hart said that MTV has no plans to abandon its presence on Twitter. "I don't think it's a zero-sum choice at all," he said. "We've done really interesting things on Twitter."

But Facebook's advantage is that the revamped news feed can handle different types of content, too: it'll have actual photos and event listings instead of TwitPic and TinyURL links. Filtering controls won't require a third-party app like TweetDeck. On the other hand, Twitter is obviously more open-ended. The messages on it are public and accessible, rather than hidden behind a log-in wall. As useful and innovative as the Facebook news feed may be, it's not searchable--and Twitter clearly hopes that its search feature, which it built in with the acquisition of Summize last year, will be a sort of secret sauce. (Maybe it'll even make money with it.)

Honestly, though, with the amount of buzz about both Facebook and Twitter as the future of real-time information, I give the advantage to whichever one can make all this content less of a mess.