between thinking about doing something and doing something that you have been thinking about.

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Dear Brad of brad-slavin.com

Sorry for the confusion and the upsurge in traffic. I hope the redesign goes well.

Brad

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Now that’s a lot of mail in the inbox… Last count 1740 video comments, almost 400 additional contacts. Not bad.

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Last night on our way to a birthday party at the Derby Deli & Dueling Piano Bar – Lisa and I stopped in at The Shops at Mission Viejo mall to kill some time. Traffic from San Diego was a little hectic so I figured that some time spend doing some retail therapy might do some good.

As we walked into the mall I was confronted with the early signs of Christmas and while the prospect of walking the mall with “deck the halls” at my back brought a grimace to my face but the little kids running by the well lit displays made me remember what the holidays are all about.

Walking down the main corridor of the mall I saw a huge white banner that read “Microsoft Store – Now Open”. I guess I have been disconnected from the platform for quite a while because I did not even realize that Microsoft had store but I have heard so many great things about Windows 7 I just had to check it out. I half expected the store to be a bland uninspiring cheap knockoff of an Apple Store, but WOW was I in for a surprise.

From the moment you first step through the door you can feel it, something is special, something is electric in the air. So many smiling faces, so many people engaged and fully committed to the experience and NO I am not just taking about the employees the nearly sixty shoppers in the store were having a riveting experience interacting with what is clearly the future.

Words really can’t do the experience justice so here are some videos that I created on my new Kodak ZI8 in 1080p mode.

Project Natal is the next level of user interaction with a computer. I had not even heard about it, I guess like so many other things Microsoft it looks to be game and life changing.

We have all seen the previews of the interactive table but I actually had the chance to “interact” with it. The table uses 3D bar codes to determine what object has been laid down. I tried taking a picture of the bar code with my phone and displaying the picture to see if I could clone it, but no luck there.

Mid way through our visit the entire store broke out into song. Now I have seen this gimmick before at Coldstone Creamery and I know how they have been criticized in the media for it, but here it did not seem forced nor contrived, I would honestly say that this was the staff letting go, having some fun and not taking the brand all to seriously.

I was absolutely floored by this experience, Microsoft has made a bold move to capture new market share. I ordered a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate edition – I have been a hard core Mac person for the past five years, I completely bypassed the Windows Vista experience but something is telling me that I am at a precipice looking directly into the future. Oh, and I just canceled my order for the 27inch iMac quad, I need a little time to think it over.
Its easy to see that Microsoft primarily is a software company committed to changing the world through technical innovation and that Apple is a hardware company that is changing the world through design innovations. They need each other to push the limits of their own visions.

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A quick list of some of my favorite marketing resources,

Marketingsherpa.com – One of the top research firms that track with is and is not working in all aspects of marketing. Well known for their charts of the week and whitepapers, their work is often cited by other top marketers.
marketingpilgrim.com – Stay current with the latest in online marketing news and developments.
Marketingprofs.com – Excellent marketing tools and advice for the marketing professional. Very timely and action oriented information that can be applied immediately to improve your success.
Quantcast.com – Especially their Media Planner tool, because you want to make the right media buying decisions based on vertical, demographics etc
Google Alerts – because you want to track what people are saying about your brand
pipl.com – A great way to do homework on prospects or clients.
ppchero.com – Learn potent pay-per-click strategies and tactics.
trendistic.com – Discover trends on Twitter.
Google Insight – With Google Insights for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties
sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/ - Seth is one of the cornerstone conversation creators for the Marketing world. He is a best selling author and trend setting in the marketing world.
web-strategist.com/blog/ – Jeremiah Owyang is a Web Strategist. I will not go so far as to call him a futurist but he is on the cusp of emerging communications including social media and the impact to the individual and to society.
kaushik.net/avinash/ - Avinash Kaushik has built the seminal site on web analytics and understanding the intention buried in the data.
marketingcharts.com – Chats and data for markers in Web and Excel format.
econsultancy.com – Home of Rebecca Lieb – an accomplished and potent author of SEO books. The site provides expert advice on improving digital marketing and e-commerce.
webinknow.com– Online marketing and PR, an excellent resource where David Meerman Scott asks some of the most provocative questions in marketing today.
thefuturebuzz.com – Adam Singer talks about spreading buzz online for whatever you are doing.

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Whenever we set an appointment with our client over the phone, it is a good idea to follow up your conversation with an email outlining your objectives. The folks at The Whetstone Group, sales training San Diego have created this template to ensure that the message is clear and your goals and purpose are outlined.

(Name:)

Thank you for your time on the phone today.

To confirm, we are meeting on (day of week), (day) at (time) for (minutes).

The purpose of the meeting it (state concisely the purpose of the meeting).

I would like to accomplish the following objectives:

1. (   )
2. (   )
3. (   )

I understand that also attending the meeting from your company will be (name and title). Accompanying me will be (name and title).

At the end of the meeting we should have exchanged enough information to be able to determine if it makes sense for us to continue our dialogue, and, if so, to decide what are next step should be. If it is apparent that there is not a fit, we can close the file.

If these objectives are not consistent with your expectations, please let me know.

I look forward to seeing you on (date and time)

This simple format for writing a followup email for a meeting will go along way in establishing trust and credibility with your clients.

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Here is a quick template that I put together for business owners to ask their clients for a review using one or more of the common online services.

The Internet has come full circle, where once you could find anything you wanted in any part of the world, now the major search engines have placed a specific focus on connecting local businesses to local customers. Google and Yahoo have their maps integration but all of the major search engines are prioritizing local results above some of the most notable national brands.  The challenge now is to rise above the local clutter of businesses in your area and do the things that have been proven to work in enhancing your local business listing.

One of the most critical aspects of local search optimization is having honest reviews of your business from your past and existing clients.  One of the easiest ways to to this is simply to ask. You will never get anything if you don’t ask for it, and when you do here is a quick email template that you can use to help insure that if you gave excellent service that your customer will provide you with an excellent review.

:::

Dear John,

It has been a while since we have spoken but I wanted to reach out to you and ask you a favor I am trying to expand my business and I have chosen to grow my practice by leveraging the Internet, I would like to ask you to positively review my business and the experience that you had with our firm on Google and Yelp/etc.

A typical review takes about 5 minutes to complete, and it mentions when we did business, your opinion of our services and perhaps it mentioned if you would consider referring me to a friend or doing business with us again in the future should the need arise.

If you feel that you would not be able to provide a positive review of your experience with my business please stop what your are doing, and pick up the phone right now and call me at 111-222-3333 or responding to this email right now.  I pride myself on providing excellent customer service and if for any reason you don’t feel that this was evident in your situation please let me know.

You can review my business at:

Link to google business listing

Once again it just takes a few minutes, but your positive words can really help me grow my practice.  If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know.

Thank you,

Business Owners Name

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I just had my first Facebook FML – I guess it had to happen sooner or later. I went to high school with Rachel.

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I read a really interesting article that did make me say – Huh! Why is that.

I like most Americans watched the Obama speech and the outburst was anything other than expected.  Its something that has never happened in the hundreds of years of the Congress so why was there a “perfect photograph” of the moment?   The outburst was just a second, how exactly did this picture get created? Was it a lucky moment or perhaps something more sinister?

You Lie! – Joe Wilson Read it for yourself.

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A amazing video on decision and how context and the default changes the results.

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