The Business Outsource Guy

Some colleges are “ missing the basket ” this season during March Madness. With all the upsets during this year’s March Madness, a great opportunity has developed to gain some valuable advertising for their respective school through the use of social media. This is a perfect example of where a properly managed social media program can impact enrollment. Last year we had Butler University. This year we have Creighton, Belmont, and St Mary’s. While their alumni and friends know where these...

I can’t wait to see how advertising and social media takes off during THE GAME this year. Let’s list a few to follow……there are lots so I’ll list a few randomly (Stats as of 2-3-2012 7:00pm est) Toyota is planning to highlight its newest Camry by showing a plant and some of its workers in Kentucky. Pepsi is planning on using Regis Philbin in a convenience store skit, giving a customer a year’s supply of Pepsi. Here’s a new one for us. Career Builder is planning on showcasing why you should be...

I had to bring this to my readers’ attention this week. As a seasoned sales professional, I witnessed a disturbing scene this past week. I was having my car serviced at the dealer and I was walking around on the sales floor looking at the 2012 models when I saw a gentleman walk in to the dealership, immediately go to a car and open the door. Sensing a potential customer, the salesman approached the prospective buyer. The man looking at the car immediately informed the salesman he had decided...

For more than a decade, Google has held the unofficial title of search engine “king”. When friends are sitting around the table, discussing virtually any current or past subject, almost universally people have different opinions or memories on the topic. I’m sure you’ve heard or maybe even used the catch word phrase “let’s Google it?”. I have. Just recently, I’ve begun to hear a few people start saying they don’t “Google” any more, they “Bing”. Now most of the “Bing” talk has arisen from the...

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about “Social Media” through sites like Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Yelp, Linkedin, etc, etc. Busineses know they need to embrace the craze but how do they justify the cost of hiring a company to outsource their on-line strategy? In the past, traditional options like an advertising agency were used. They had their place in time, just like the typewriter. Ad agencies were great for the task but technology has passed that concept by. Print media, radio media, and...

Are you looking for more revenues for your internet business? Tired of all the web page statistics showing how many people abandoned your checkout page without a purchase? If you’re one of the many internet businesses feeling this pain….then I have a solution for you! Let’s start by figuring out why so many people don’t complete their on-line purchases. There are a couple of main reasons…. Price ….Many people, like it or not, use the internet to comparison shop. They’ll “Google” a product...

With the Social Strategy1 (SS-1) “Engage” platform, social media and business brand management is being taken to another level. As ILD Corp.’s newest division, Social Strategy1 is setting the trend by bringing “Business Intelligence” to social media. SS-1 has developed and added a new, personalized component to the task of managing your good name and reputation in the internet community. With the growth of the internet expected to continue for the foreseeable future, a major need to manage...

But who REALLY knows Butler University? When I was looking for colleges coming out of Boston Latin School in 1981, I had never heard of Butler, never mind thought of going there. This morning, odds are most of the US population knows of Butler University. Why? Because they made it to the finals of one of the world’s premier sporting events…the NCAA Basketball Championship……for the second year in a row! And the national press coverage they’ve been getting has opened our eyes….I was asked twice...

You only get one chance to make a good 1st impression on someone. If you’re in sales, it is even more important you come across as both friendly and knowledgeable. But keep in mind, while both of these traits are important, don’t overdue either one. I’m sure you’ve heard the term “Elevator Pitch”? We all have a canned story we try to use when we first meet a prospect and they ask the dreaded question “So, what do you do?” There are many ways people answer these questions. Let’s for...

In previous years, most digital merchants offering products on the internet used Paypal, credit card, and premium SMS (PSMS) services to receive payment on their services. Recently, the traditional phone companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Century linked have jumped into the market and started to allow “Information, & Entertainment Transaction Billing (IETB) direct on home or business phone bills for select, high profile merchants. Internet merchants have struggled with payment options for...

Pingdom’s latest statistics, there were more than 152 million blogs at year’s end 2010.There are loads of ways to drive traffic to your blog and opinions vary across the board on the best ways to do so.What is a backlink?Backlinks, also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks, and inward links, are incoming links to a website or web page. In basic link terminology, a backlink is any link received by a web node (web page, directory, website, or top level domain from another web node....

Let’s talk sales cold calls for a little bit…… Sales managers have been beating the concept of business development achieved through cold calls into sales professionals for decades. When I first started in sales at AT&T in the 1980’s, I had to go through a “role play” scenario where I made the initial appointment, sat with the client and fact found, then developed and presented a solution based program. My skills were “assessed” by a team of sales managers and trainers and I was hired because

Today’s town and city budgets are growing tighter and tighter. Reduced tax revenues from high unemployment, rising medical and retirement costs for employees, and simple inflation causing ever escalating prices for the everyday items needed to operate a community combine to put a strain on any budget. As a result, any type of program providing a surplus of cash flow can be invaluable. LED lighting is the latest program to be offered to the towns and cities throughout the United States. Not...

Today, there are more than 311 million people living in the United States and according to the CTIA Wireless Association, there are more than 300 million active subscription plans to some form of wireless service. A wireless service subscription can be many different types. There are the wireless internet cards you can buy for your laptop, which gives complete mobile access to the internet from your laptop anywhere your carrier has an available network. There are monthly plans you can...

Identity theft….Credit Card Protection….Data Breach….Fraud Alert….Credit Freeze. All phrases no one wants to hear but they remain front and center in our lives. Let’s face it, we live in a world where crime rises as the economy falls. As people lose their jobs or become “under-employed”, they may become desperate to meet their financial obligations. And unfortunately, sometimes people turn to crime. Crime is not always robbing a bank or breaking into a home or business. Sometimes it becomes...