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THE PRODUCTIVITY INSTITUTE NEWSLETTER Friday, March 27, 2009 ANNOUNCEMENT: The Productivity Newsletter is now over 5,000 subscribers, with growth exceeding 1,000%! Content is King does work. Thank you! Going forth, please let us know (at
newsletter@prodinst.com):
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This Issue's Featured Organization: BNI Networking: Building relationships,
NOT cold calling in person We’ve all been there, at some “networking event” where all the attendees can’t wait to shove their business cards in our face. Shark on Shark networking! Ouch. No problem, we’ve read books that tell us how to give a great “elevator pitch”. So, now we are prepared for success. We can build a real network of relationships, right? Nope! This is not networking; this is cold calling in person. It’s based upon the faulty (and very common) idea that you must get your message across (continue)  |
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Newsletter topics: About Consultants, Entrepreneurs, Task Management, Twitter, Hosted Unified Communications
by Bruce Newman
Companies need consultants
Regardless of their size, all companies need
consultants – they can’t have expertise in every area. Consulting is a cost
effective means of providing companies with the expertise they require in order to meet their
specific needs. One advantage of outstanding consultants is their wide breadth of experience
and knowledge - which frequently translates into excellent project design and results that may
extend beyond the initial range of the engagement’s core focus. There have also been
many reported instances of consultants providing feedback and guidance on issues outside the
parameters of their original project, usually as a result
(continue)by Victoria Duff
 Experienced business professionals
will tell you that a recession is the best time to start a new business. Your competition is
cutting back spending or going out of business altogether, while your overhead is small and your
message is new and fresh. Opportunities abound to pick up customers that have seen their usual
vendors go out of business or cut personnel and services in an attempt to stay alive. You can
also find good employees among those who have been laid off in your industry.With all this opportunity, life
for the new entrepreneur should be a walk down Easy Street, but it is not. Most start-ups have
one vital problem in common: a very small budget. Funding a start-up is even more difficult
during a slow economy because even your family and best friends are not willing to give you what may
be the very money they need to keep their own lives together.
First Mistake –
Foolish Thrift
It is times like this that many new entrepreneurs make their biggest mistakes in hope of saving money. When professional experience by Patrick Seaton
 Small business owners certainly
understand the need to introduce long-term improvement initiatives into their organization.
The pay-off that some companies are experiencing is astounding and certainly helps pave their path
into the future with more profits, more flexibility, and more stability. Unfortunately, not every company has found the same success. While
companies strive to be lean and mean through improvement initiatives, the changes can be
overwhelming for the small company that doesn’t have somebody on staff who can fill the
crucial role of “Change Champion.” This champion role is either divided among
several people or is just one of many hats a single person wears. The bottom line – the
initiative does not progress as hoped and lacks the momentum needed to really change the
company’s culture and processes into those of a world class company.
JUST IN: Twitter For Business by Melanie DePaoli
 Twitter is quite the enigma. Everyone
has an opinion, but no one really knows what you are supposed to do with it. The New York Times said
it best with It’s
What You Make It. I am not going to go through all of the features of Twitter because you can
find that elsewhere. Instead, I am going to talk about using Twitter for business. Like so many, I am relatively
new to the world of Twitter. Before signing up though I wanted to know “if anyone has received
business from Twitter.” I posted that question on various sites to see what others experience
has been. The general consensus was that no one has received business (directly) from Twitter. So if
you are looking to get more business from a new source, you will have to look
elsewhere.
That being said, if you are
looking for a tool to get the word out about your company, your product or your service, Twitter is
IT! Twitter is a great way to talk about what is important in your area of specialty. It also makes
you think, because you have to use smaller phrases and words that will entice your follows to read
what you write and hopefully re-tweet your tweet.
(continue)Hosted Unified Communications by Frank Grillo
 Before the economic firestorm began raging, unified communications, or UC
for short, was the buzz phrase du jour in boardrooms throughout the nation. Success stories from UC
deployments were consistently flowing, and the majority of IT executives report that if they
didn’t already have UC, it was in the plans. And it’s no wonder—unified
communications can offer tremendous benefits for companies of all sizes.
True UC solutions deliver a comprehensive toolset that covers the spectrum
of communications needs – from advanced VoIP functionality to multimedia collaboration
tools such as chat, video and web conferencing, file sharing, unified messaging and integration
with popular technologies such as Microsoft Outlook—essentially creating a paradigm shift in
the way people communicate with each other and connect to the information they need.
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The Productivity Institute (PI) provides companies with rated outstanding consultants to meet their specific requirements, thereby increasing value and enhancing productivity. Rated outstanding consultants can truly produce significant short and long term results. There is no cost or obligation to use our location, qualification and referral service.(view one page brochure)
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