January 5th, 2010
Want to make Social Networking work for your business?
Here’s a great article on the do’s and dont’s about making Social Networks work for you
Especially love this quote:
“Who will be in charge: How about junior employees? Usually that’s also a bad idea.
They probably haven’t absorbed the organization’s zeitgeist so they will probably lack the context in which an effective dialog occurs. “
January 5th, 2010
You’ve had a successful week at a trade convention. You’ve collected dozens of business cards and connected with other professionals with whom you’re sure to build strategic partnerships. Now comes the hard part–importing the information from their business cards into your contact-management system. As the cards pile up on your desk, you start to think that there has to be an easier way. Enter Dexter Sealy, the creative mind behind CardScan, the business card scanner and contact-management software.
January 5th, 2010
I love this quote from Oprah
"This gadget loads business card information right into your computer’s address book—you’ll be too organized for words." — Oprah
Found it here
January 5th, 2010
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
The original article can be found at:
January 5th, 2010
This is an article from TheInquirer.net - http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/review/1045992/cardscan-save-business-life Cardscan might save your business life
YOURS TRULY FINDS himself in a living hell of contacts and business cards after each and every tradeshow. Even though e-mail apps have decent contact lists, syncing everything with a variety of devices or even backing up data – one thing is certain, there’s at least two days lost in typing or fixing OCR mistakes to get all of the contacts inside your favourite contact manager. [You ever wonder why few of these people contact INQ staff again, Theo? Ed.]
We recently learned that this is not something you have to do, because there is a viable alternative. Cardscan is the name of the company that has been on the market since 1993, and its product has reached its eighth generation. Manufacturer claims to have a product that will never lose your contacts – so we decided to put Cardscan through its paces and see is it really all that manufacturer is claiming, or is this just another "why even bother" kind of product.
Inside the package 
This product is a combination of hardware and software: a miniature USB-powered scanner and a CD that contains CardScan organising software – offering syncing with various apps such as Outlook, Thunderbird or importing contacts into business-class cellphones and Blackberries. The scanner is just intended for scanning business cards so some multi-functionality is excluded, but it compensates with a very small size and usage of any USB 2.0 cable.
The software uses .NET Framework, so we would advise you to download the latest version if you do not have it before installation. Other than that, installing was rather a painless process, once that app was installed, it asked for permission to upgrade itself to latest version. After a couple of minutes, installer started once again, rewrote all the older files and installed fresh version of the app.
Online backup service One of the biggest hassles of folks that change computers or cellphones often is keeping all the contact information in sync. Cardscan comes with "At Your Service", an on-line "vault" that will keep all of the data saved to your personal account. If you’re changing companies often, we would advise that the e-mail you use here is a private one, in case you forget your password or something odd happens.
Retrieval of data was flawless, and it is quite easy to keep desktop and notebook in sync. This service automatically makes weekly backups of data, and you can additionally sync yourself between two intervals. BlackBerry Connector service works like a charm, and if you’re a Crackberry-nut, you’ll pretty much enjoy this service.
So, does it scan everything or is this a fluke? One of my biggest concerns was the different types of business cards. I have several thousand business cards, but in all sincerity, I only need around 400 contacts afloat. And business cards range from classical paper ones to shiny pieces of metal, so the challenge for this compact scanner is somewhat understandable. During this test, each and every business card I have passed through the machine, and we can report that out of 2780 cards, it recognized 96.21% with no issues. It only had problems with cards that have different pictures in the background, screwing up detection of some letters. We only experienced three business cards that could not be read at all. First one was was shiny metal one with engraved letters (no wonders there), one card that looks like it was designed by a 4th grader and and oddly enough, one relatively clear silverish+red business card from Kode5 guys. The second Kode5 card was recognised in full, which made me wonder.
In short All in all, we conclude that CardScan Executive v8 continues a tradition of product that is highly useful for business crowd, but not much more. It is really easy to add this scanner to your business travelling bag, since you don’t need to worry about cables (any USB 2.0 cable will do), and the software worked like a charm, even on multiple installations. We won’t exclude that something may go haywire with hardware components, but seeing how easy is to find necessary contacts only gives me confidence. That’s one of the best reviews I’ve seen of Cardscan.
Blackberries are the most popular smartphone in the world (so far!) Not bad for a company that started 3 years after the market leader (US Robotics nee Palm) already dominated the market space.
What sets the Blackberry apart from every other smart phone is the Blackberry server.
The Blackberry server offers several key, competitive advantages to a smart business owner:
Like most software vendors, when Blackberry sales talks about the Blackberry Server, they generally refer to the Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES). This is their premier product, and in use by nearly every Fortune 500, US Congress, etc. BES is a great product, and it’s expensive. Starting at $ 3,500+ it’s also overkill for most small businesses.
For the smart, cost-conscious business owner who already has an Exchange or Microsoft Small Business Server running, the Blackberry Professional Server (BPS) is a great alternative.
All the features of BES for $ 100/user, in 1 user increments. Got 10 employees and only 3 with Blackberries? Just buy 3 BPS licenses for $ 300 or 8% of the BES cost.
When you combine the real-time capabilities of a BES or BPS server
with Cardscan Professional or Cardscan Team Edition
with Business Card Mastery Pro or Business Card Mastery Team Edition
YOU CREATE A SALES JUGGERNAUT
Recommended Resources:
Need your Exchange or Blackberry Server setup? Contact Brainlink.
Want to find the perfect Blackberry? Read about it first on BerryReview.com
Need a professional who can research your contacts? Find them here.
January 5th, 2010
Wikipedia defines Data Mining as:
Data mining is the process of extracting patterns from data.
It’s what Amazon does with their “Amazon Recommends” and “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” features.
It’s what LinkedIn uses to show you “People you may know”
How do you apply that to your business?
By playing the “Who knows who” game, or “six degrees of separation”.
1. Go through your prospects list, look them up on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc, and see who they and you know in common.
2. Before you meet them, call or email some of these mutual contacts to learn more about your prospect. Likes, dislikes, buying styles, etc.
3. Use your assistant or virtual assistant to research them, summarize their bio, latest accomplishments, etc. and put that in your database.
4. When you go meet them, and the conversation becomes stuck or grinds to a halt, name-drop some of your mutual contacts and jump start the discussion. Countless times, talking about mutual contacts, and mutual organizations (Thanks Gotham!) has led to meetings, introductions and closed business.
January 5th, 2010
They always say "Never start your article with never".
Sometimes though, it’s the right place to start.
The dirty little secret of EVERY networker I know, is that they have piles of cards on their desks. Some put them in boxes, others in rolodexes. Some just shove them into drawers or shopping bags.
Why?
Because each of those cards cost a lot of money. Not to the person who printed them, but to YOU!
You paid the dues to join BNI, Gotham (Le Tip, Executives United, CEO’s Circle, etc).
You invested the time in driving/commuting to the event, and commuting back
You had the courage to meet someone new, start a conversation.
And all that effort resulted in you getting their business card.
Did that close the sale? NO!
Did that help you beat your quarterly sales targets? NO!
All it did was create the start of a new relationship.
And that’s why networkers hold onto the cards they collect.
Unfortunately, just getting the card is NOT enough.
You have to follow up with them – via phone, email, facebook, linked in, twitter, etc.
That’s why you need an organized system for collecting, researching and managing contacts.
Cardscan Executive + Business Card Mastery Pro is that solution.
The hardest part is building the relationship in the first place — and you did it. You got their card…and started a relationship.
Scan that into your database, update it from their vcard or emails.
Have your virtual assistant research them prior to meetings, sales presentations, etc.
And that leads to increased sales, with less effort.
Buy now…operators are standing by 
January 5th, 2010
It’s a tool for developing your sales and marketing prowess. And that requires discipline. Just like buying a home gym…
Learn to use it wisely, Peter Parker, and you can become a sales super-hero.
Leave it sitting on your desk…and it’ll collect dust…just like most home gyms.
t’s a powerful tool, not a magic bullet.
What I’ve found, over the past 5 years, is that smart, focused business owners and sales professionals buy the Cardscan Executive, and barely tap 10% of it’s power. And after the initial flurry of scanning, fall back into old habits and then wonder why sales haven’t grown.
Our Business Card Mastery – Pro clients, on the other hand, show continued sales growth, even in this recession (depression? lost decade?)
Why?
Because people are still buying – whether it’s Real Estate, Life Insurance, IT Support, Legal Advice, Flowers or Catering, people are still buying. Hollywood had a blockbuster year – over $10 billion in revenues. That’s a lot of popcorn, candy and soda sold.
And someone had to sell or lease the cars that took people to the movies.
And someone else had to sell them the car insurance, and life insurance, and gas, and bread, milk, etc.
Someone had to sell them their house, rent them the apartment, etc.
That someone could be YOU. If you had reached them in time…if they knew your products and services existed. And if you had a relationship with them.
That’s where BCM comes in – we teach you how to build relationships, how to maintain those relationships and grow your business.
And THAT my friends, is what you need to know before you buy your card scanner.
January 5th, 2010
The Cardscan Executive is a diamond in the rough. And like a gemstone, it takes patience and practice to maximize it’s value.
Here are the 5 things you should know about CardScan Executive:
1. Batch Processing – Instead of scanning and verifying a card 1-by-1, you can use the batch feature to scan multiple cards, and assign common notes and categories to them. See the "Scanning Multiple Cards" for an example.
2. Show / hide the Categories pane - Once you have 50 or more cards in cardscan, and each card belongs to 2 or more categories, using the Navigation Bar is a great way to see all cards in a particular category, and the overlapping sub-categories.
3. Sorting Cards – Sorting "By Verified" or "By Modified Date" lets your see your most recent cards on top. These may the the cards you scanned recently, or the ones that were updated recently.
4. Difference between VIEW ALL and LIST buttons - When you perform a QuickSearch by typing something into the quicksearch field, Cardscan shows you matching records.
5. De-duplicating contacts – Duplicate contacts are a fact of life. Whether you duplicate them accidentally by scanning in the same card multiple times, or because they’re imported from multiple spreadsheets, it happens. However, once they’re in Cardscan, there’s no reason to put up with duplicate contacts. Use the "De-Duplicating Cards" chapter to see how you can get rid of duplicates permanently, and quickly.
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
|
