Did Microsoft finally get it right? That seems to be the word on the IT Street.  It appears they have learned their lesson from the negative feedback on Vista, the sales on the XP-loaded netbooks, and the lost sales to Apple.

I admit, I was skeptical, and I have only tried it out on a friend’s computer over the weekend, but I liked what I saw.  Being a skeptic means I was not about to run out and buy it right away. My plan is always to wait several months and let others find the bugs.

However, this time, I’m actually allowing myself to get excited at the prospect of a “makeover” for my Vista machine.

I love the concept of the Jump Lists on the Start Menu, the customizable notification area in the task bar, and the ability to control the paranoia level on the User Account Control. I appreciate the gadgets’ being set free from the sidebar, and the new evolution of the Quick Launch bar. And I’ll admit, I LOVE the slideshow on the desktop. It’s cosmetic, but every little thing comes together to improve the client experience.

So, that being said, for those of you who were hanging on to elderly XP machines on life support, it’s finally time to get out there and shop for its replacement. If you would like a few suggestions, take a look at our Buying Suggestions Page on our website.

Even my cranky partner, who is all-Mac, has bought W7 and likes using it. That’s saying a lot!  I’ll check back in a few weeks and see if I still approve of this OS.

What’s your experience been? Have you installed W7 on your present machine? Purchased on a new computer with it loaded? How do you like it in comparison to XP or Vista? Please post your comments!

One of the most overlooked features in Windows is the User Accounts in the Control Panel. The typical family scenario is to buy a computer and have all the family members use it in turn, with only one log in account set up.  However, not only can separate user accounts for each user provide several advantages, it could save your hide some day.

The advantages include allowing each user to have their own Documents folder (pictures, also); email inbox; customized desktop and icons; and improved security.  If a household contains children (including college age!) the safest approach is to make mom’s and dad’s accounts Administrator status, and password protect them; the children’s accounts should be set up as users. This means, among other things, that they have no right to download material from the internet onto the hard drive without an administrator’s permission.

Beyond regular users of the computer, it’s always good practice to have a limited Guest account for those visitors who need to check their email while at your home. Never give a Guest Administrator rights!

For those of us whose home is also our principle place of business, and whose machine is, by necessity, shared by the family, having password protected user accounts is crucial to the safety of our customer data. No well meaning family member or visitor will accidentally write over my info if my User Account is tucked away and protected.

In addition, the User Account feature can also save the day when one of the files or drivers in a user account becomes corrupted. Just recently, my computer crashed and restarted 6 times in a row – I couldn’t get Windows to stick. Finally, in Safe Mode, I backed up all my data onto an external hard drive, created a brand new user account, gave it Administrator privileges, and rebooted into that Account. Perfect. No sign of trouble.

A couple of hours of copying the old data back into the new user account, re-tweaking some default settings, and I’m back in business. If I live with this new User Account for several days without issues, I’ll simply delete the old one. Problem managed.

Now wouldn’t it be great if this ability to change your computer persona translated into real life? You gained a few pounds over the holidays or got talked into getting a tattoo…. No problem, just create a new You…

There are so many software applications out there, that it’s tough to decide what tool to use for what project; the choices are so overwhelming, that we tend to go with the path of least resistance and use the same programs we’ve been used to using. I encounter business owners billing their clients from a Word document, or keeping track of people they meet in an Excel spreadsheet. Let’s face it – you could eat your dinner by sitting on the floor and propping your dinner plate up on a chair – but wouldn’t it be easier to use the chair for sitting and the table for holding the plate?

As technology coaches, we enjoy poking into new software tools to analyze its usefulness and give it our thumbs up or thumbs down. Sometimes a software program is even worth a second look.

Case in point: when someone told me about Microsoft One Note, I bought it and tried it out. It seemed odd, unfamiliar, and …well…ok. I couldn’t really get my hands around the real need for it. I abandoned it for months until a conversation with a fellow business owner brought this to light: our heads are always filled with all the ideas and tasks and projects and obligations that need to be met to run the business on a day to day basis – is there something out there that can help us organize these thoughts and tidbits of information so we don’t lose our minds (completely)?

That plea prompted me to go back into MS One Note. This time, with a clear mission in mind, I went about filling in one “notebook”, then another, and yet a third. Finally, a place to gather up my many thoughts, account information, project goals, plans, website clippings, etc, in a structured, easy to look up location. I couldn’t believe that there was a software that could capture all kinds of “loose information” like a bucket of loose change, and have it all neatly available in pages and sections and notebooks.

If you’re not a Microsoft fan, all is not lost. There are web based applications you can download from the internet for free or for a small monthly fee that are designed to accomplish the same goals as One Note.  Check out evernote.com for a good non-MS alternative, especially if you’re a Mac user. They give you the ability to either run it off the internet or download it onto your hard drive.  Either way, it’s an attractively designed user interface to help you collect scattered info.

Bottom line, there’s a software application for just about every issue you need to solve, every idea you want to pursue, or every goal you want to meet. You either need patience to search for the right one, or the guidance of a Technology Coach doing working alongside you.

Is there an issue or a goal you don’t seem to find the right software for? Let me know and we’ll solve it together.

What I DO need and want are Raving Fans. I read about this phenomenon recently, and it’s been haunting every thing I do for my business. What does it even mean?

A client is someone who uses your services 2 or 3 times, is satisfied, and goes away. They’re done. Sure you send them holiday cards in December and may send birthday cards if you keep this information, but otherwise, your transactions are completed. The End.

Raving Fans of your business is a whole new ball game. They are the ones who use your service, come back 3 or 4 times, and are so well taken care of by you that they can’t help but tell all their friends and associates about why they need to use you, too.

Go beyond the “thanks for using us, have a nice day” approach to the final sale. Follow up with a quick email a week after the transaction, just to see if they have any questions for you. Follow up with a phone call a month later, again, asking if there’s anything you can do to answer any new needs or concerns since your last conversation.  Send them a real card on a quarterly basis. Just a “thinking of you and making sure everything’s to your satisfaction” type of message.

Now, it’s important to note here that you’re NOT continuing to sell to them. You’re not encouraging them to buy more. This phone call or card has to be about THEM – not you and your cash register. The next sale WILL come, but it will do so in the natural order of things, with no sales pressure. If people even smell sales pressure, no matter how well you think you’re hiding it, they will take measures to avoid future contact with you.

Find different ways to get them involved in your sphere. Include them in your social networking activities, wherever appropriate. Ask for their opinions, their feedback, their advice. People love to be asked what they think, it makes them feel valued. Draw those clients to you and they become your fans. Your fans tell others – many others – about how they enjoy working with you. Those folks can’t wait to become your clients, too, because everyone wants to feel valued.

So – keep your casual client, I’ll be busy cultivating a base of raving fans.

A Lean, Mean Database

Do you hear small business owners boasting of having a database of hundreds and even thousands of contacts? Wow, they must have tons of business, booked every day! When probing further, I discover that many of those entries are people who are not what I would qualify as a “real” contact. They are entries created from business cards picked up from a table at a networking event; skeleton info from a phone inquiry years ago which never resulted in a closed deal; or a client who they may have done business with once – more than 5 years ago-and never heard from again.

Is that what your database looks like?

Take into account what the R stands for in CRM – it’s Customer Relations Management. What kind of relationship is there with any of the 3 examples given above?

Your CRM database should be lean and mean – containing rich information on people who are loyal clients or real prospects. Anything else, and you’re fooling yourself into believing you have more business than you do.

Your CRM can, of course, contain great resources to refer to other people – after all, that goes a long way to developing a relationship. But an over-bloated database of people you don’t actually know or haven’t spoken to in years is not doing you – or your computer – any favors.

Everyone in your CRM should be someone you reach out to on a regular basis – and I’m not talking about “blasting” them with your newsletter or sending Christmas Cards. They are people you should be phoning to see if you can help them by answering questions, or giving them referrals or the name of a great resource for them, and simply finding out how they’re doing with a personal note.

Haven’t swept through your database in a while because it’s too large? Then that’s the reason it does need some cleaning out. Start with “A” and keep going until you’ve either reached out and made contact with a client or prospect; or make the decision to remove them because it makes no sense to keep them.

Why get rid of someone who may buy your products and services someday? Because unless you reach out and make a real, positive connection with them, you’re simply playing darts blindfolded. You’re fooling yourself into believing that you’ll hit the bulls eye when you don’t even know where the dart board is hanging.

Even if it takes you days, or you have to hire some temporary help, take the time to go through your CRM and make sure you either do something to strengthen the Relationship (a personal note, a phone call) or delete the entry and allow your computer some breathing room.

I’ve had various discussions with professionals about the use of FaceBook in their business. Some are of the opinion that it should be a place of sheer fun – time to be just you, not your business. Some believe you should never “let your hair down” where a client can see you – just marketing messages, no photos of you and your family allowed.

Why?

In our continuing discussion of building trust with your next great client, consider that before investing money in your products and services, a prospect may want to “check you out” on FaceBook. That does not mean you put up a brick wall: quite the opposite – you give them a glimpse into the casual you.

Remember the days working in corporate, where there was Family Picnic Day – you all got to see your office mates in tees and shorts, meet the spouses and children, eat sloppy food and play volley ball or softball. You all went back to work on Monday feeling that you knew that guy in the next cube a bit better, and that was a good thing.

FaceBook is the new company picnic – seeing the business associates and prospective service provider during leisure time. Of course this means you’ll have to be careful of the pics you do post – we may not  want to know ALL of your craziness.  But normal fun is a great way to connect with people who were wondering whether to do business with you. In fact – consider this – I actually don’t trust or want to do business with people whose personal/family life is completely hidden. I feel suspicious about what exactly they’re hiding.

So go ahead a post your industry knowledge, provide potential clients some valuable tips and advice about your product, but also let them see your family photos, and posts about something totally mundane about your day. People want to do business with people, not brick walls.

What’s your take on this? Agree – disagree – undecided? How do you use FaceBook today, or are you one of the very few who are missing out completely?

With all the competition out there, why should a prospect choose your company?  They will select your business only if you can clearly state your value, and if they feel they can trust you to provide them with the help they’re seeking. Having straightforward and detailed information on your website is a start. Using free marketing tools will propel you into the next level.

How can you provide clear information, demonstrate your expertise, have others speak to your excellent work, and share your past experience and background?  Fortunately the answer is in one place.  If you don’t already have a Linked In profile, sign up today. If you have a profile, chances are that you are under utilizing it.

How can LinkedIn meet these goals?

Provide clear detailed information – the Summary and the Specialties area in your profile are your opportunity to be specific about what you provide your clients.  The more detailed, the better the picture in their mind of how you will help them.

Demonstrate your expertise – use your Status to give tips and advice or industry news once a week or at least twice a month.  Investigate the Question and Answer section to seek how you can provide answers to issues in your industry. The more questions you answer, the more you’ll be viewed as the go-to person in your field.

Have others speak to your work – when you work with someone, whether it is a client or a peer, ask for their feedback in the form of a LinkedIn recommendation. Additionally, you’ll want to take some time to write recommendations for those with whom you’ve had positive experiences.

Share your past experience and background – The Experience and the Education sections is where you paint the picture of how your current skills developed.  Your prospects will find it easy to review your credentials and begin to develop trust.

Put yourself out there – Finally, your profile should include a professionally photographed Head Shot. A glimpse of your face will instantly provide a greater sense of confidence than an image of your logo. Your logo may be super, but it’s your face your prospective client needs to see. Get an appointment with a professional photographer who specializes in Head Shots.

Take advantage of this free marketing tool to build a trust relationship with your next new client. Seems confusing? Schedule a remote training session with a business computer coach. Visit us at www.njpctraining.com.

Recently I answered this question at a professional organization meeting. It was a great question – just what is the purpose of Linked In and why should anyone climb aboard that train?

The reasoning behind Linked In is ingenious – during a normal life span, each person can only know and meet a limited number of human beings, but each of the people they know has access to hundreds of other friends and associates. So – if you need to meet someone with a particular experience or expertise in a specific area or who has a particular product or business, you reach out to your network and ask them to reach into their network and get connected. It’s an old concept with an internet twist.

So if you haven’t gotten Linked In, I suggest you do so. First off, it’s free, it’s good exposure for your business (did you want to keep it a secret?), and it’s a good way for you to get a web presence whether you have your own web site or not. Add to that the possibility of meeting people who could be the next best resource for your business, and there’s really no reason not to.

So, you create a profile, upload a photo, and start finding your friends and associates. A really fantastic way of connecting to people as you meet them is downloading the Linked In plug-in for Outlook. This way, as an email comes in to you from a new acquaintance or prospective client, you can click the corner icon and send an invitation to Link In with that person without ever leaving your email. Now that’s productive!

Once you’ve become comfortable with the basics, feel free to add on. For example, this blog is connected to my Linked In profile so as I update it, all those who I’m Linked In with have access to my postings. I can also add the Amazon Reading List and a host of other useful applications, for example, uploading a presentation!

Beyond that, find the Questions and Answers component to Linked In and delve into those questions you have the expertise to answer. Now more people who presently don’t know you will soon learn that you have knowledge and experience in a particular area and before you know it, you’ve Linked In with them as well. And, since you’re proving to be an invaluable resource for their needs, they start becoming your clients or referring you to their network.

It’s all positive, people sharing knowledge and sharing their connections. Get Linked In or Get Left Out!

We all attend networking events, gleefully shaking hands, introducing ourselves, and hearing of all kinds of businesses. As one jacket pocket gets emptied of our business cards, the other jacket pocket fills up with the micro-representation of business associates we’ve just met.

Now that we’re home, what to do with all those cards? Some of us have them in a cookie tin, shoebox, wicker basket, fishbowl (minus the fish), and all kinds of receptacles. We go through them regularly (well that is our intention anyway) and we select a subset of those cards that are worth holding onto.

But where should all of this great information live?

If all you need is to send out your monthly newsletter, then it’s easy to enter the data into your Constant Contact account, and you’re done.

But if you’re looking to have that data not only available, but also sortable, with the ability to add more information to each person on an ongoing basis as your relationship develops, Constant Contact can’t do this for you.

Are you a spreadsheet person? It may seem that the place for all of this data is Excel. But please don’t take this approach!  The information will be posted neatly but that’s as far as it can go.  Are you adding them to Outlook? It’s a great idea to have their names and email info in your Address Book, but Outlook is too 2-dimensional for you to really pull the specific data you need on demand.

If you’ve heard of Act and have never used it, I don’t recommend that product very much these days for a solo or small business. It’s powerful and robust, but heavy and cumbersome, taking up much of your computer’s resources. Not to mention that every year, each new release has a new bug in it, and they charge you $99/year just to speak with their staff about fixing  THEIR design and coding mistakes.

So where do you go from here? At Home & Office Computer Training, we’re constantly scouring the software world for new apps worthy of our clients. The contact management database we’re recommending for small businesses is Batch Book.  The company is called Batch Blue, and they’re a small but growing New England firm. Their product is web based, which means you can not only share your data easily with your team, but you can all access it from any computer that has an internet connection. It’s user friendly (no, really!) as well as easily customizable. You can sort and pull your data at your whim. And since it lives on the web, you don’t have to worry about your hard drive slowing down with a massive load of data; plus, you’ll constantly receive their improvements as they are developed.

Check it out and see what we mean. If you’d like more information, please give us a call at 973-952-0053. We’ll get those cards out of your fishbowl yet.

It’s the hot topic of 2009 in the business world. Sure, social networking and cloud computing are hot trends, but if you don’t use these tools to increase your productivity, i.e., leverage your available time, then it only boils down to a waste of time. We all get the same 24 hours in the day, and with all our “to-do’s”, and all the instant communication tools, it’s easy to be “busy” without really accomplishing much at all.

Do you begin the day with a list of tasks to complete? Many of us do – but we also live in a world of conundrum – we have really fast ways of doing things, and also many more accomplishments expected of us.  When all we had was the telephone, we were expected to reach just a few people per day. But with email, texting, blogging, and everything else we can do, we can reach hundreds of people in just a few hours. The expectations of what we should be able to accomplish always exceeds what we can actually get done.

So that was the bad news. How can we possibly get to the point where we feel we’ve had a productive day? One general rule is to take that list of to-do’s and cross out anything that is not critical for today and anything that someone else can do for us. But realistically, those things still need to be done. Let’s explore some software tools that can possibly help us with the nagging non-critical things.

MS Outlook and Gmail are two serious email tools that do far more than deliver today’s mail and allow you to reply. They both have ways to “teach” the software to work for you. What are called “Rules” in Outlook, and “Filters” in Gmail both accomplish similar goals: having the software take a specific action based on the incoming mail. Have Outlook file the mail for you in their proper folders. Filter your Gmail with the appropriate labels. Or my favorite Rule, which is to just delete a message if it meets certain criteria so you don’t even have to read or touch it.

Outlook and Google calendars can not only track your one-time and recurring appointments, they can also actively remind you when the event is coming up. Both tools can allow you to invite others to a meeting.  With Outlook, you can attach a file to the appointment (the proposal you need to bring with you to the meeting.) With Google calendar, you can click a button to get a map of the address.

Need to get the word out to your associates of where the new meeting location is, or the new time change for the appointment? With Twitter, you can send out a tweet and your followers are now all on the same page as you. Want to announce your upcoming event? Create a LinkedIn event or update your FaceBook page. Create a separate FaceBook page for your business so that you have a casual friendly profile for your personal stuff and a professional presence for your business.

If you’re feeling inundated by the available technology instead of being helped by it, visit njpctraining.com and contact us. We’ll chat about your unique situation and how we can help you. We offer a free consultation and a variety of cost effective training options.