Our Mothers always taught us that polite conversation should never include: “Sex, Religion & Politics”. To bring that message home, many forms of discipline were used. Some were more lingering than other, including the taste of soap. However, this forbidden idea has still filtered down in our society. The concept of how we conduct business and the idea that these subjects should never be addressed by anyone in business is patently absurd. We use these profile markers everywhere you look; in print advertising, on radio and television or any other type of traditional and non-traditional marketing .

Isn’t it interesting that when you seek to buy airtime for radio or TV, you look at demographics. Sex plays a specific role. “Urban” is another translation for young Black audiences, also known by the trendy euphemism, African American. African music is nowhere to be found and is lumped into the World Music category which usually resides on Public Radio or TV stations as an alternative to “REAL” options. In radio lingo, “Urban” focuses on Hip-Hop R&B, Neo-Soul, and R&B Classics. Other categories include an all Male profile which targets Sports Talk and New & Alternative Rock. The Female population is relegated to Country and Top 40 Pop. Regardless of how you look at it, the sex of the audience is a defining factor.

Christian based broadcasting has an entire category all to itself regardless, of whether it is actually promoting a unique sect or church; or it is strictly music driven. Parameters are established based on what is considered socially acceptable in regards to a specific doctrine. What may be right for a Catholic show is very different for a Baptist audience. Then many commercial talk radio shows have a particular political agenda. This is all very interesting since sex, religion & politics are not supposed to be part of our polite society in the first place!

It is incumbent upon businesses in today’s society to face these “scary” subjects head on. People of different sexes, sexual orientation, and sexual desires buy form companies based on inherent personal traits. So do different religious groups, as well as opposing political communities. Are there exceptions? Of course. But in order to maximize your ROI (return on investment) you must be realistic on knowing your audience. You must look at the numbers and make decisions based on the most appropriate selections. For instance, if you are selling beautiful dresses, you wouldn’t put an ad in Modern Mechanic. That is not say that there aren’t any women mechanics, nor that men wouldn’t buy dresses for the women in their lives; it simply isn’t the best bang for the buck, in terms of marketing.

However, if you have found a new way to secure phone numbers that uses new technology when it has never been done before in a particular arena or industry . . . then maybe it is OK. That’s groundbreaking and it requires a different set of rules. In fact, if it is legal and ethical it may even be OK for Politics too! It is necessary to embrace these ideas as new avenues for commerce and recognize their true expansive potential.

“Sex, Religion & Politics” should not only be spoken in polite conversation but in fact they need to be identified as areas of interest for the future. How we address subject matter is just as important as the information itself. If we are willing to take the time to approach these subjects with the same respect and diligence as we do other topics, then we will reap the benefits in business without being exploitative. At that point, we will be able to readily address these issues, adapt them to meet our needs and not have to worry about the proverbial, societal Mother, washing out our mouths with soap!

{ 0 comments }

Our society has put a great deal of pressure on all of us to network, engage, talk, connect, revisit, interact, get the message out, etc.!   We all have multiple numbers, interactive devices, numerous ways of communicating and last but not least, phones that do just about everything except pour our morning coffee. But I’m sure that somewhere in the world someone is working on that right now too!

Every morning, like most executives, I sit down and check my emails to make sure that someone hasn’t changed a scheduled meeting or requested a new appointment that will adjust my calendar accordingly. I scope out Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter as quickly as possible and then move on to they day. Luckily, I have actually gotten this activity down to a quick routine.

I remember a time when my energies were devoted to sorting through huge piles of mail that I use to receive daily. At the time, my assistant would sift through the initial volume and sort them by category: “Immediate Attention”, “Important” and “Later”. It was a great system. However, on more than one occasion I would wonder where I had put something on my desk after I had read it. My assistant complained that I was too efficient and she could readily help me if I hadn’t already done HER job and filed it! Sure enough, when we looked in my file cabinet it was already there! I had mastered the filing process, but my phone calls were still overwhelming.

Time was my greatest enemy. And little pieces of paper with call back numbers was the biggest culprit. No matter how much time I thought I had to call people back, it was never enough. Once I left my office to attend meetings throughout the building or out of the building . . . finding enough time to call everyone I needed to, presented a serious challenge. I finally determined that it was necessary to set aside designated time, at least a half-hour in the morning and again a half-hour later in the day to make calls. These were not the calls that an assistant could make, they were the type of calls that required my personal expertise and authority or ones that needed me to show the person on the other end of the phone that they were of value and subsequently commanded my attention.  That small shift in my business habits reaped untold rewards.  People used me as their definitive Rolodex source.

It is important to understand that those were the days when only a select few people had cell phones and the workplace did not endorse nor embrace them. Blackberries, i Phones, texting, Facebook; even email was not the major form of communication. You could courier interoffice memo folders, pop into someone’s office or use the phone for interoffice intercom communication or out of building phone calls. It was far more difficult to get your ideas and messages to someone. You had to make a conscious effort.  But somehow we got it done.

So if that is the case . . . I am trying to wrap my head around the reasons why people in business today do not return phone calls! Oh, if someone is a stereotypical salesperson, they may literally hound you with phone calls, emails, text messages, etc. It can be excessive and annoying. What I’m talking about is simply conducting business. You may meet with someone, discuss a project, collaboration or proposal and they never return your calls. They’ve asked for a meeting and then decide for whatever reason that they either no longer want what you have to offer, they have changed their mind, something in their business gets in the way or any number of things.  In fact it could be a zillion of reasons, but you are completely unaware of what it might be because they never bother to get back in touch with you! They just sort of quietly dissolve into the woodwork of life hoping that if enough time transpires,the situation will go away.  It doesn’t and you are left not knowing what circumstances caused the lack of communication. Were they real or not.

What happened to common courtesy? What happened to thanking someone for their time but saying: “no thank you”. What happened to all the advances we have acquired by having all these ways of getting in touch with people, but we don’t have the etiquette, appreciation of other people’s time or the backbone to let them know how we feel or what we want.

I appreciate it when a prospect gets in touch with me to inform me that they have chosen another firm instead of us. Would I rather have had them select us? Absolutely! But at least I know that they are conducting themselves in a way that I believe we can understand and appreciate.  We honor the process and recognize that sometimes you win and sometimes you are given an opportunity to learn.  I know that those opportunities help us see how our business may grow.   What I want most of all  is to not be faced with a void.  I like knowing where people stand, especially in business.  I think that most business people would appreciate that candor.  It allows for realistic planning and genuine self-examination of your business.

It seems that  with all our current technology that allows us to contact people globally and get tasks done in a fraction of the time than it use to take in the past; we somehow seem to have misplaced something very important along the way.  It’s our manners.  Clearly, if we are willing to look at ourselves with a critical eye, we will see that that’s what’s missing in business today!

{ 0 comments }

CIME4 eTalk is Now Live!

by admin on February 26, 2010

in Featured Article

Get the latest and greatest with our NEW monthly newsletter!  eTalk features the latest in CIME4 news that’s jam-packed with stuff that will keep you informed, entertained, up-to-date on our company as well as our company’s new services offerings.

Want to get the news sent right to your inbox? Just ask to be put on our email list. We’d love to keep you informed!


{ Comments on this entry are closed }

A Lot Like Real Estate

by sr on February 24, 2010

in Featured Article

Almost everyone today is looking to create side jobs or improve their income situation via an entrepreneurial venture. Putting up a website is viewed as the panacea to creating wealth and opportunity. Unfortunately, many people who are heading in this direction seem to have little or no real knowledge of what is required or what they are getting into when they step into the world of the internet.

More often than not, some slick advertising campaign has misguided them into believing that it is infinitely easy and results will happen immediately. If only that were true!

Online business, like any other solid business endeavor takes money, time and good planning. Can it be affordable? Absolutely! But it isn’t a FREE ride.

Just recently, a friend (who also happens to be a client), overheard a group of women in the ladies room of a private club discussing the availability of FREE or very low cost websites. They were being offered by a national, popular supplier of FREE business cards. When our client heard what was being said, she suggested that maybe there was more information that needed to be shared and she directed them my way.

They had no concept of what website hosting, SEO or Technical Support Plans meant, nor did they understand the need for SSL certificates or databases. Once the metaphor of real estate was used, it made perfect sense to all of them.

So this is the scenario:

Think of your website as an RV or mobile home. You have designed it with the color schema and all the “bells and whistles” that you want and need. If you anticipate selling anything from your home (aka website) then you will need to build it to accommodate commerce. You will have to have a SSL certificate to ensure secure financial transactions. And, if you want to gather all your customer information, you may need a separate database. Then you need an address identity. Your domain name is your address on the web and where you park your virtual RV is your leased space or your website Hosting. If you don’t have SEO (Search Engine Optimization) configured on your site, then you are simply “a pretty picture” amongst millions of neighbors. Even with SEO, once you move in, it will still take eight (8) to twelve (12) weeks before anyone really knows you have become a member of the community. And now that Social Media and Social Networking are integral elements to driving traffic to your site, you need to remember how communication over phone “party lines” was conducted, back in the day! That really is how connections are being made again.

Obviously, there was a good amount of information that had not been disclosed by those “so called” deal makers! Solid web development needs to be obtained from reputable sources. All agreed that creating and maintaining a website is a lot like real estate.

Don’t be fooled by deals that are too good to be true . . . they probably are!

{ Comments on this entry are closed }