Writing Your Podcasts

Podcasts are a great tool for learning content marketers. They build credibility. They build targeted traffic. They build a relationship with the audience. They are easy. They are quick to create. They make a great Google-friendly source for repurposing content. In short, they are a tool that you should definitely consider if you are in the business of creating and marketing learning content.

But there seems to be an issue with podcasts!

How do you create them?

There's a lot of information on how to record a podcast. I've even written a word or two about the subject. But one piece of the pie that seems to get overlooked is writing the podcast.

So in this article I'm going to give you six hints for writing your podcasts.

1. Use the same process as article writing. Both articles and podcasts are about the same length. Let's face facts, they're both short pieces. In fact, they almost qualify as tiny. However, that size imposes a number of problems. The system you would use for writing a fifty-thousand word eBook will probably be major overkill for a four-hundred word article. The same thing applies to writing a podcast. However, it still needs to follow the same basic structure. You still need to prepare an outline, edit it and then write the podcast or article. If you are intending to write articles as well as podcasts then use the same process to the same extent for both.

2. Cheat. Sorry, I couldn't help that. And it could be misinterpreted so I'll have to explain what I mean. Both articles and podcasts are approximately the same size. And they are both intended to perform the same set of tasks. And they are in different media so Google won't object if you transcribe them. Whenever you write a podcast, you should repurpose it into an article. And vice versa. You'll get two marketing opportunities from one bit of work. Always a good thing.

3. But don't overdo it. There's always a problem when you try to cheat. You might be tempted to overdo it. Just as you shouldn't use PLR articles or spun articles, you shouldn't use them as a base for your podcasts. It really isn't that much work. And your quality will be much better. And trust me; the audience will know when you overstep the bounds of ethics.

4. Pick what you are recording from and stick to it. Traditionally writers wrote their articles long hand. Then they learned to type. Then they learned to speak and transcribe. Along the way, we each develop our own preferences. The trick is to pick a method that works best for you. Do you prefer outlining your podcast, recording it and then transcribing the result? Or do you prefer outlining it, writing it out and then recording it? It's a personal choice. There's good and bad to each choice. Try them out and see what feels best to you. But once you've made your choice stick with it. Don't jump around. You'll improve in time, but not if you're constantly changing gears.

5. Use Your Computer As A Tele-prompter. I'm not sure if this is a writing or recording suggestion. It's actually a little of both. No matter what you are recording from... script or outline... put it on a PowerPoint or equivalent. Why? Because when you record the podcast, you will need to read from your "script". By using a computer screen as a tele-prompter, you will avoid dropping your chin onto your chest. Most people find the quality of their voice improves if they keep their head up when they speak.

6. Writing is not speaking and neither is reading. It's common to teach people to write like they speak. But it doesn't actually happen. There are things you will say when you speak that you wouldn't write. Similarly when you write you'll phrase things in ways that you never would if you were speaking. That's why reading in public is a different skill from public speaking. However you decide to write your podcast you need to recognize the difference between the two and practice converting between the two. The key to doing a good job is practice.

Producing a Professional Podcast

Every once in a while, I'll be asked what needs makes a professional podcast professional. Creating a professional sounding podcast is important when trying to build credibility. Amateurish podcasts tend to make you come across as amateurish. However, a strongly professional podcast will make people automatically presume that you are worthy of respect. In essence, a professional podcast will borrow credibility from radio which like television provides an automatic level of credibility.

So how do you make your podcast sound professional?

Here are five characteristics of a professional podcast and what you need to do to produce the same result.

1. The content is relevant and interesting to the audience. Professional broadcasts spend ridiculous amounts of money surveying their audience and working hard to ensure that the content they are providing is relevant and interesting to their audience. The reason they do this is simple. Your audience will judge the quality of your podcast based on the relevance of your material to themselves.

2. The announcer is confident and practiced. Even professional broadcasters make mistakes. They read a sentence out of order. Or their mouths have problems forming the words. Despite this, they persevere and finish the work. Your presentation needs to be just as polished and your ability to overcome issues will be judged.

3. The recording quality is excellent. Most broadcasters invest in high-end recording equipment. Far more expensive equipment than a normal podcaster is capable of ascending. However, the equipment you need is still able to produce high enough quality records that is suitable for impressing your audience.

4. The material is well organized and focused. When just winging it there will always be a tendency to go off into irrelevant discussions. And the argument you are trying make won't be as clear and precisely focused discussion on the topic at hand. A professional broadcast knows what the audience wants to hear and therefore they are specific, focused and clear in the organization of their material.

5. The podcast is finished or packaged. We've become used to packaging in a professional broadcast. What do I mean by packaging? Each podcast needs to begin with a set of introductory credits, and a list of what will be covered in the podcast. Similarly, the podcast needs to end with a set of closing credits. These credits need to include music to help the audience feel connected. Finally, transitions between elements should also include a musical transition.

Some FAQS on Dental Insurance and Dental Plan

Health insurance has become main stream over the past couple of decades or so. Dental insurance seems to following the same trend. People are beginning to understand the importance of coverage for dental health and are willing to go for dental insurance as they understand that it will end up saving them money in the long-term.

Why is dental insurance important?

Dental procedures are usually expensive and can leave a gaping hole in your pocket. The reason for the significant cost of dental care is due to the expensive materials, equipment and skilled professionals involved in the treatment. Hence, some form of coverage in the form of Oral health insurance or dental plan is important.

What is the difference between dental insurance and dental plan?

Oral health insurance and discount plan look to be similar but differ in the way they work. It is much more difficult to get a oral insurance policy as it requires a lot of paper work and time to get accepted whereas it is simple to obtain a dental plan.

You do not have to worry about deductibles and waiting periods in discount plan. Aninsurance policy would pay you partially or completely for any treatment you undergo whereas a discount plan acts as a discount card where you get a percentage off for each procedure you undergo at the dentist. The discount percentage differs for various dental procedures and cosmetic procedures are usually not covered. Claiming the amount for oral health insurance can also be bothersome as it requires lot of paper work and can take a long time to arrive. Discount plans are usually cheaper but also tend to provide smaller coverage than dental insurance.

A great disadvantage of both dental insurance and dental plan is that you can't combine policies together. This is unlike in health insurance, where a secondary insurance policy would combine with the primary coverage and further reduce the costs incurred by you.

Benefits of dental insurance

The greatest advantage of dental insurance is that you are always covered. You do not have to worry about paying expensive fees from your pocket for dental work. We also tend to go for regular appointments and get dental treatment if we are covered. This not only helps to arrest dental problems in its initial stages but also saves a lot of money since dental problems that progress to advanced stages requires treatment which intensive as well as expensive.

What sort of dental coverage is suitable for me?

You should go for a dental coverage that is tailor-made for your needs. If you are a person who has good dental health, do not have any dental problems and need coverage for routine checkups and cleaning, a simple dental plan should suffice. However, if you are the kind of person who is prone for dental problems and/or plan to get extensive dental work done in near future, you should go for an insurance policy which covers a greater percentage of dental treatment costs.

Conclusion

Dental insurance is a really helpful entity to have with you to cover your dental expenses. It does not matter whether you need to go for extensive procedures or do not have any dental problems. Some sort of dental coverage is necessary and you can pick one which is suitable for your needs.

Buying: How to Buy a Car DVD Player

Nowadays, there isn't a home without a DVD player, but one of the latest and coolest ways to electronically enhance your life is installing one into your car! Car DVD players come in all different varieties and prices, but even the cheapest ones will send you into movie viewer heaven!

Steps:

1. Look for a car DVD player that you can afford. Car DVD players can be simple or very extravagant. Portable units that sit between the seats and plug into the cigarette lighter are generally more reasonable as opposed to a full-blown in-car theater system (from $100 to $3,000 and more).

2. Most people who are looking to add electronics to their vehicle will want to future-proof their purchase by choosing car DVD players. Anything else that is not as advanced will simply be outdated.

3. Inspect your car for the best place to install a car DVD player. You'll want your car DVD player to take advantage of the best-quality inputs available.

4. Bring a DVD with you when you shop. There are three competing, incompatible formats: DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM. Even if a player says it takes your format, make sure to test it.

5. Buy an all-in-one car DVD player or individual components if your budget is small (under $250) and your needs are simple. An all-in-one unit includes a videocassette player (VCP) or a DVD player, speaker and screen.

6. Component systems tap into your vehicle's stereo and pipe sound directly to headphones for quiet viewing. Most high-end car stereo retailers carry these systems. Choose a component system ($400 and up) where a single video source can run several screens, usually liquid-crystal displays (LCDs). The car DVD player screens can pop out of the dashboard, drop down from the car's ceiling or mount in headrests.

7. Make sure any component system is expandable, so you can adjust your system in the future for more or different screens and input devices.

8. A diversity antenna, also known as a dual-antenna, is used for better TV reception when the car is moving and is recommended.

9. Making sure that your vehicle's electrical system can handle the demands of a mobile entertainment system is very important. You may need a professional installer to determine this for you.

10. Remember that the audio encoding-Dolby Digital or digital theater system (DTS)-on the DVD itself is critical.

Tips: Car DVD players can also play audio CDs. If you burn CDs on your computer, bring along a homemade disc to test it.

-A laptop computer with a DVD drive can serve as an entertainment system for smaller cars with one viewer. Mobile entertainment systems are theft targets. Invest in a good car alarm.

Warnings: Front-seat viewing is illegal, not to mention idiotic while a car is in motion. Make sure to install your car DVD player in a proper place!

Exhibition Stands Fulfil Your Exhibition Display Needs

There are varieties of exhibition supplies that are great tools to use for sales and marketing purposes during tradeshows and exhibitions. They are available in various sizes and configurations to suit your requirements. Whether you are planning to participate in an outdoor event or an indoor exhibition, placing exhibition display stands in prominent areas around the venue can lead potential customers to your stand. Some of the reputed online suppliers with decades of experience provide wide ranging exhibition solutions to all types of small and large companies. You can get your supplies and display designs custom made to your specifications and within your budget.

Top Reasons to Choose Display Exhibition Stand Banners and display stands are extremely versatile products. They are practical and offer excellent return on investment. Some of the reasons why these products are so efficient are; it is an attractive media to communicate your message. They are very portable, and can be collapsed and rolled when not in use. This makes them easy to store. These are eco friendly products as they can by completely recycled, thus also reducing your budget for future events. They are also very flexible, because most of the stands allow graphic panels to be exchanged and updated. This will help you have an endless supply of graphic panels which you can use in the future. They are easy to transport and absolutely maintenance free as long as you store them properly.

Tips on How to Make Your Trade Show Successful Exhibitions are generally very short term events and hence you need to use everything you have to sell to your products and services and interact with prospective customers. The whole idea of participating in a trade show is to attract customers. You can be successful in getting customers to your stand only if you are able to impress them with your advertising around the venue. Therefore, concentrate on placing exhibition display stands all around the venue other than just near your stand. Place them near entrance and exit points, customer lounge, at a distant near your competitors stand, etc. Have messages that will arouse the curiosity of your customers to know more about the product. Don't tell everything in the displays, this may not bring in expected results.

How to Buy Exhibition Supplies? If you are planning to participate in an exhibition or a trade show, you will need a number of supplies to make sure that you achieve your goals and objectives of participating in the event. When purchasing tradeshow supplies, you need to take into account several factors such as size of the space allotted to you, the shape of the floor space, location of your stand, other areas where you will be permitted to display exhibition stand, exact measurements of the floor space, etc. Based on these factors you can get your supplies custom designed by an experienced online exhibition supplier.

Tips for Online Insurance Agents to Improve Conversion Rates

When it comes to purchasing or selling insurance, there will always be lot of competition. Most of the leads check with numerous agents in order to find the best rate. Here are some tips to help your leads and promote your policy.

Making First Contact

The agent that contacts the lead first, certainly has the distinct advantage. In order to increase the chance of getting the first contact with new leads, try to reach them immediately after you receive an inquiry; even if that means you need to skip your lunch or travel an extra mile. Call your lead right away; if he/she is not answering the call, make sure that you leave a voice message delivering the company details. Send a follow-up e-mail after the message. Try to be more helpful and professional, instead of being a hound!

Selling Your Services the Right Way

If you have already contacted the lead, you just need to put on the market yourself. This is the way that you can separate yourself from others in the competition. Here are some of the exceptional tips to transform the lead to a potential client.

Keeping the Conversation Not-So-Commercial!

Most of the agents start speaking regarding the sales right away. It is not the right manner and leads to a disappointing result. Instead, start with more open-ended questions. These questions will sound less commercial and adequately help you in assessing the client's needs.

Try to understand the goals, purchasing habits, and motivations that match a product that you can promote, and then make a suggestion.

Understand Each Prospect

Study the info that comes from a lead carefully and make a note of the conversation you've had with the lead. It also allows you to understand the client desires in a better manner. Review your notes before you meet the client. It is a key approach to build the rapport.

Know Your Products

Make sure that you are aware of all your product and services. You should know the drawbacks and highlights of each policy so that you can may fluently all the queries of your potential customers.

Be Enthusiastic

The energy that you put in explaining the services will add value to your efforts. Combination of knowledge and enthusiasm will go long way and usually convert into long-term relationship with the client.

Guarantees and Deals

Everyone likes decent and good deal with insurance policy. Make sure that you offer special incentives to your client. This will certainly make them feel compelled to take up your service easily in comparison to what the others have got to offer.

Analyzing RSS Website Syndication

Nowadays any website can syndicate content with the aid of RSS feeds, and there is always a captive Internet audience seeking for updates on websites, blogs or forums that match the search criteria of a web surfer. Syndication also makes easier the marketing process of any given website. A webmaster may publish content from one site into another totally different, enriching the site's content and improving the chances to get higher positions in search engine listings.

Feeds with recently added or modified content can also be retrieved by RSS aggregators and other interfaces that make easier the task to stay up to date about the latest news on a website, without actually needing to visit such site itself to find them out. Therefore, RSS feeds are really big time savers for the busy people.

The digest format of a feed contributes to a wide variety of uses and implementations. For pod casting websites, the RSS information can be embedded into the digital media file, or depending on the publishing platform, this information can be broadcast in a separate textual feed that is produced as soon as a new multimedia file is added.

Moreover, whether for pod casting or blogging, an RSS feed will always be an XML-formatted file, but difference resides in the approach to the content. A pod cast allows anyone to be a radio or TV star in the virtual Internet space, while blogging enables authoring to people who never thought to be a writer.

Because updates for podcasts, blog entries, and site news are immediately available on the net, RSS feeds cannot only reach the Internet regular audience but also people that otherwise is not easy to get in touch with. An example of this is TV and recording producers that like to stay updated about new material published on the web to discover new talent.

Enumerating on your own, there are probably a dozen reasons why you should use RSS feeds on your website or blog, and another dozen to stay yourself informed on what is going in your favorite websites through this same method. Really Simple Syndication does not only makes simpler things like this, but life itself. With millions of websites online and counting, it's materially impossible read all what is published on the Internet, but with RSS you can selectively broadcast or retrieve exactly the information that you want with ease, so let syndication takes command.

An Inexpensive Solution to Securing Public Access Computers

Offering secure public Internet access is not as easy as it may seem. As the IT manager for a mid-sized public library, it’s become apparent to me that creating a secure network of library workstations for use by the public is more important than ever before. System administrators have the responsibility of protecting the library's networks and systems, while ensuring quality and speedy service to all patrons. Offering public Internet access requires a dynamic security plan that is constantly under revision, taking into account the technical changes of the times. Traditionally, the software options available for help in this regard come at a significant price, often forcing libraries to spend thousands of dollars securing their computer rooms.

Sold per module or license, many of these software solutions offer a variety of features, but often fall short of actually securing the workstation. Plagued with stability issues, it’s not uncommon for many of these security solutions to crash and leave an administrative-level desktop open for public use. After test-driving a seemingly endless amount of pro-active protection software packages, the PC’s I administrate were still accumulating spy ware, browser hijacks, and tracking cookies on a daily basis. That is, until I came across the completely free software solution that actually does what others claim to -- tightly secure any and every Windows 2000/XP Pro workstation.

The Public Access Computer Security Tool is a complete software security system designed by, and offered freely through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Designed for any public access computer that runs Windows 2000 or Windows XP Professional, it helps keep workstations secure by restricting public access to the machine, and creating customizable profile environments to meet patron needs, without compromising the ever-important administrative access to the terminal.

So how does the Public Access Computer Security Tool work? By utilizing three separate layers of pro-active security restrictions (system restrictions, profiles, and profile restrictions), patron access is limited to a desktop completely configurable by the Administrator, and locked down at the policy level. This results in a computer environment that performs flawlessly, despite the “heavy use” factor that’s become synonymous with the public access computing world.

After installing and configuring the Public Access Computer Security Tool on our library’s ten public access Internet machines, the days of spy ware, instant messengers, and search bars are now behind us. I’m confident our public access terminals are now properly secure. Stability is not an issue any more; the operating system itself is reconfigured to disable access to sensitive parts of the machine. There’s absolutely no way for patrons to intentionally or accidentally disrupt the functioning of the computer, as they are limited to the software we’ve given them access to.

Best of all, libraries on the tightest of budgets can use the Public Access Computer Security Tool for every public access terminal in the building, and not owe a single dollar. The software is completely free and requires no license/registrations. As an IT administrator, if you’re shopping around for public access solutions, I suggest you check out the Public Access Computer Security Tool. Further information and links to downloading the tool at available at: [http://www.pacomputing.org/PACTool/pactoolhome.aspx].

How Banner Ads Can Help Your Business to Grow

Many people question whether or not Banner Advertising really works. The answer is a resounding YES! I have been in the business for many years and I have seen some awesome banner campaigns as well as some that were less than ideal. While banner advertising, whether using a Banner Exchange or actual Banner Advertising sites, can be a very inexpensive way to advertise, it still requires a significant amount of thought and preparation prior to beginning your campaign. Are you going to utilize a Pay Per Click ( PPC ) or a Pay Per Impression ( PPI ) method? I personally recommend the Pay Per Impression due to the significant difference in prices. In fact, if you utilize a Banner Exchange, you can even get your impressions for free!

Let me share with you some suggestions as to what will increase your chances of success with your banner campaign.

The first thing you should do is determine the main goal for your banner ad. Are you trying to collect e-mail subscribers or sign-ups, traffic, sales, etc. It is very important for you to determine the purpose of your ad prior to creating it. Once you set your goal, you can now measure the performance of your campaign.

Is your product looking for a Specific Target Market? If your product only appeals to a small quantity of the population, you need to make sure that the sites that will display your banner will be visited by that demographic. If your targets are teenagers, advertising on a retirement site will probably not get you the conversions you are looking for.

Make sure that your banner text is benefit-rich, simple and to the point. No one is going to read four sentences of text crammed into a 468×60 space. The ads that will perform the best are simple and easy to read. Also, do not overdo the Flash. Web surfers have developed banner blindness for these types of ads and will ignore, consciously or unconsciously, any flashing banner information. In this context, what would the purpose of making an ad flicker, blink and flash if your audience will almost certainly ignore it. Instead, make your banner ads look like valuable content.

One of the biggest mistakes a banner advertiser can make is trying to sell directly from their banner ad. It will typically take multiple exposures to convert a sale. Repeated banner impressions can have an impact, even if the web visitor does not click on it right away.

Create a benefit-rich landing page that offers something free related to your product or service or collects e-mail addresses for follow-up.

Make a special tracking URL for your landing page so you know exactly what your Click Thru Rate ( CTR ) is for your banner. If you have several banners or even several banner companies doing your campaigns, having specific landing pages for each will give you a good idea of how each provider is performing. This also allows you to tweak your campaigns or focus your advertising dollars to the provider that is sending you the customers.

So, how long will it take? That really depends on how long it takes someone to buy your product or service. As a rule of thumb, a high value product will take a longer time than a lower value product. One has to be patient with this type of advertising. If you are going to run an online display campaign, you will need to commit to it all the way, otherwise, you will end up wasting your time and money on what could have been a great opportunity to grow your business!

The Importance of Small Businesses Building an E-Mail List

When I am meeting with new clients, I am finding more and more that they are not utilizing a mailing list for their website. This is a huge mistake as having a mailing list can help gain new clients and remind existing clients about the services your business provides. Setting up an email list is very simple; all you need is a website and a form on your website.

Why An Emailing List Is Important An email list is important for a variety of different factors. One is that it allows you to keep in contact with targeted individuals who you know are interested in your services or products. Since they signed up for your list, they most likely are either an existing customer or someone who could become a customer in the near future. Are you offering a great new sale or discount with your business? These are the type of people who would benefit greatly from hearing about this news. Another reason is that with an email list, the cost is next to nothing! Service like mailchip allow you to have a list of up to a few thousand people and you can send out over 10,000 emails a month for absolutely no cost at all. When your list eventually grows, you can sign up for a monthly fee which is very minimal, around $20 a month. For the low price involved, having an email marketing list has a fantastic return on investment.

How To Get Started To get started, you will want to sign up for a mailing service like the above mentioned mailchip. Because you will be emailing individuals on your list weekly or monthly, you will need to make sure they opt in to your list. Because of spam laws and regulations, for a person to receive emails from you they must have signed up and give you permission to do so before you can start sending them your newsletter or other promotional offers. Once you sign up for this service, you will be given a unique url or website that you can link to. I recommend having a small form on the homepage of your website that allows anyone to click on and from there they can sign up for your mailing list. Once this form is added to your website, you can watch your list grow and can inform your audience of new promotions your business is currently offering now and in the future.

Increase Website Traffic Without Paid Advertising

Attracting people to your website is the only way you are going to make money online. Do you want to learn how to increase website traffic without using expensive paid advertising strategies? You do? Good. I'm going to show you a strategy of my own that can drive insane amounts of traffic to my niche websites. Well, it's not really a strategy, it's more like a "common sense marketing" technique. Here it is:

Have you ever hear of keyword marketing? If you haven't, let me explain. It goes like this: you write an article around a specific keyword that teaches something. It can be a "how-to" article or "steps" article. The idea is to write as fast as you can and try to submit 10 articles in a day. This is crazy, I know. But, I do it. Am I crazy? I don't think so.

Most people who are looking for information online are usually looking for beginner's tips, or how to learn a skill. Since you know your topic so well, you should be able to write lots of articles about it, right? Let me give you an example of how this can increase your website traffic quickly.

Let's say that you write 10 articles per day for 30 days. Well, that would be 300 articles. And let's also say that you keep this up for 3 months. Wow! That's 900 articles. Do you think your traffic will increase from those articles? If each article you write gets an average of 15 clicks to your website, that's 13,500 visitors to your website. So what if you were to get the same visitors from paid advertising? Well, if you can get your CPC (cost-per-click) down to $0.67, you would be spending $9,045 on advertising. That's $3,015 per month. Do you want to spend that much? I know I don't.

So what do you say, can you spend the time writing those 10 articles per day? It really IS possible you know. All you have to do is write 400 words per article. I can write a 400 word article in 7 minutes flat. So my average is about 8 articles per hour. Article marketing is by far my favorite way to drive traffic. The fact is, articles do a much better job at promoting your products than any ad would ever do. So why don't you write your first article today. I tell you what, you can write about what you think of this article.

The Ivory Tower Syndrome

"His cardinal mistake is that he isolates himself, and allows nobody to see him; and by which he does not know what is going on in the very matter he is dealing with. - Abraham Lincoln on his reason for relieving Gen. John C Fremont of his Missouri command. (September 1861)

How many times have you been given direction from your boss or the "head office" where you find yourself just shaking your head, wondering how the executive team could possibly have made such an uninformed decision? Maybe they have implemented a new cost control program that eats at the heart of your implementation process, putting you into a position where you can't possibly meet your delivery commitments. Or they roll out a new sales promotion that is not supported by your systems and almost assuredly will result in unhappy customers.

In my younger years I worked as an accountant at the head office of a shoe retail chain. We were suffering some significant losses in some stores and implemented some new control systems. Later I was shopping in one of our stores where the sales clerks did not know me. They were bemoaning the latest directive from "The Ivory Tower" and how silly it was and how difficult it made their job.

"These guys just don't get it", they were saying. "They've totally lost touch with what goes on in the real world." I was young, and very confident that we in the head office had a bigger, more complete view of the situation than these sales clerks did. I was confident that they were the ones who had lost touch. They just didn't see the big picture. Sound familiar?

I know that I heard a similar refrain at least 100 times in my career. The people in the field were convinced that the people in "The Ivory Tower" were out of touch. The executives in the home office were convinced that they had taken the proper steps based on "the big picture".

Who was right? It's hard to tell. There is no pat answer. Surely not every decision the executives make is correct, nor is every decision they make wrong. But as Lincoln intimated when he replaced General Freemont, it's not a good thing to lose touch with what is happening on the front lines.

Leaders that isolate themselves too much from the day-to-day activity of their business take the risk of losing touch with their employees, their customers, and even the companies' mission. In fact, there is an old joke about how decisions are made with input from the front lines that gets so badly distorted by the time it reaches the executives that it bears no semblance to the original message. Some people would tell you that this represents a communications problem. And to an extent, it does. But it also represents an executive team that is out of touch because it relies entirely on the chain of command to get information about important issues instead of being directly plugged into the day-to-day activities.

But here is an important thought that every reader needs to keep in mind. My experience is that the first line managers are just as likely to be out of touch with the day-to-day activities as the executive team is. If you are failing to walk the floor to talk with your employees; If you are failing to open the lines of communications on what happens on a daily basis; If you are so absorbed in meetings that you don't spend direct time with your first line staff then you too take the risk of not truly understanding your business. And that is much more risky then what happens in "The Ivory Tower".

A Ghost in Cornwall

This land is my memories. For two thousand years this valley has been mine alone.

I know every rock, every stream and every tree. I know the forces that shape this land and the people who inhabit it.

A billion years ago this land was a migratory trail for the animals of Western Europe. They roamed freely across the huge land of one continent. Millennia passed as the rivers washed silt to the ocean and the sun raised rain to the sky. At that time the mass of Eurasia was joined. The tectonic plates shifted and islands formed, raising proud, green peninsulas on green water, thrust out to the ocean. Long before my time the forces of nature battled along the coasts of Western Europe. From the Southwest, the Gulf Stream warmed and opened the land with summer heat. From the north, ice raged and cracked the rock of what would become the British Isles.

The land tells me it was an epic struggle. The generous heat of earth, venting her spleen, the wash of the water, cooling and circulating air. Rain succoured the land and ran back to the sea, endless cycles, repeating endlessly. The earth shifted, chasms opened and the sea swept in, submerging areas and separating the islands of Britain and Ireland from the mainland.

Spouts of boiling lava spewed from the molten centre of earth to create granite formations, a source of wonder till the end of time. A great rift opened up what is now the Bristol Channel and the Irish Sea, separating the land into distinct areas. Many characteristics still connect Brittany, Ireland, Wales, and Cornwall. Their joining can still be seen in place and people. But veins of power run through the sea, a matrix of energy criss-crosses the land and reaches out around our planet.

The Phoenicians, Egyptians and Greeks journeyed to these coasts even before the Iron Age, in search of Keltic wisdom, since long before the time of my youth. They followed the trail of gold and wisdom across the sea to Cornwall and then to Wales and Ireland. Later, tin trade followed these routes across Brittany and the journeys of wise men and saints to the west of land, the land of setting sun, of Gods and the quest for immortality that haunts us all. Ships and boats from the French and Spanish coasts often sailed to rivers on the south coast of Cornwall in search of trade and journey with the friendly and civilised Keltii, hopefully avoiding the pirates that have ravaged these coasts for millennia.

2000 years ago I was killed trying to save my mother from Portuguese raiders on the river, who stole the gold that came from Ireland. My story is located in the valley of one of these rivers, now called 'River Fowey'. It is a story that I have not been able to tell until now. My own story starts with the visit of Jesus of Nazareth to the river Fowey in 30 AD (according to the Julian Calendar and allowing for a seven year miscalculation). He was twenty three years old. He journeyed on a vision quest to the west-of-land, in search of the wisdom of the Keltii and union with his father spirit. I have spent much time thinking about this moment and my brief encounter with a man who claimed to be Son of God. For hundreds of years I puzzled at his smile, the light in his gaze. He had a quality of being rare in the extreme, an utter and unconditional compassion for all life.

Who am I? A ghost; Fintan, born 2000 years ago and caught in the matrix of nature unable to tell my story until now. I am here, waiting for you.

Keeping and Motivating the Best Employees

Keeping and Motivating the Best Employees In "You Win With People" we talked about the need to hire the very best people to build your team. Now that you've done that the question becomes, how do you keep them, and how do you keep them motivated.

Much has been written about Employee Retention and about Motivation. But most of what has been written has been written in terms of the average employee. In fact, if you are measured at all by your company in this area, it's almost always a measurement of employee retention. But all turnover is not bad turnover, so a retention measurement is actually a false measurement of how you're hiring and firing practice helped the company.

So back to the question. How do you keep and motivate the best employees that you've hired? All human beings have basic needs that must be met, starting with food and shelter. So it's obvious that you must pay a fair wage and provide adequate benefits or people won't be able to stay with you. But once the basic needs are met, does it require more money or more elaborate benefits packages to keep the best employees?

In reality, neither are truly required.

Pay and benefits only go so far, and the best employees, the intelligent, self motivated, team oriented, results oriented employees are not out to squeeze the last dollar from their employers. The best employees have other needs that must be met and the good news is that you, their manager can meet these needs yourself.

Recent studies of highly motivated employees show that once their basic needs are met that other factors keep them motivated and interested in their jobs. Here are the 12 questions that the best employees want to be answered:

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?

2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?

3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?

4. In the last 7 days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?

5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?

6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?

7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?

8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?

9. Are my coworkers committed to doing quality work?

10. Do I have a best friend at work?

11. In the last 6 months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?

12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

It's important to note that of these 12 questions, 11 of them (all except number 8) are controlled locally by the employee, the manager, or the supervisor. This means that the first and second line managers have enormous control over their ability to motivate and retain the talented employees that they've hired. You can even argue that you directly impact number 8 based on how you represent the company.

Look back at your own career and think about the people you've worked for and which one's you were most willing to follow. Were these the needs that that leader met for you?

Goals and Objectives

Picture this scenario and see if it seems familiar to you.

"Dave, I need you to give me the goals and objectives for your group for the new year".

"Sure boss. What would you like them to look like?"

"You know. The usual. Increase productivity by 10%. Reduce your headcount by 15%. Implement some new controls. Oh, and I need them in two days."

Frankly, I've had this discussion about 25 times in my career and it always made me just a little bit crazy. Without any real look at what is going to happen this year, or any idea what the top executives are shooting for, I'm going to lay out my department's goals for the next year. Then I'm going to drive my people to meet these goals so that I get a good review and an increase in salary.

Not only does this scenario ignore the direction that should be set by the top executives, but it also misses the single most important reason you are in business..... The customer. So, while you're out doing the victory dance for meeting your objectives, your customer is sticking sharp pins into a voodoo doll that bears a remarkable resemblance to you.

Let's cut right to the chase here. When you create your departmental objectives based on the above conversation, the only thing you are really thinking about is getting the task complete so that you can check it off your list. You're not thinking about customer satisfaction, or how you are going to improve quality, or even major initiatives that you know (or don't know) are coming your way. You're thinking about getting the boss off your back.

And why not? The exercise above is just that, an exercise.

So, how should objectives really be set?

From the top down. The very top. The CEO of your company should be sitting down with his top executives and laying out the 2 or 3 top priorities for the company for next year. Those priorities represent the vision for the company. Each executive takes those 2 or 3 priorities and determines what they can do to support the vision. Working together the executives assure that the goals that they are passing down to the next level of management are consistent with each other and with the overall company goals.

Nothing can do more damage to a company and its customers' then major functional areas with conflicting or unrelated goals and objectives.

After the buy in has been received at that level, those visions and goals are passed down to the next level of management, where more specific goals and objectives are designed and shared with their customers. It's critical that everyone in the company see and understand the vision from the top, and that everyone understands what they are doing to support the vision. By developing a company vision at the top and then developing goals and objectives that explicitly support those goals you can then be sure that you are supporting the companies true goals. Then when you look at what you have accomplished for the year you and your customers will be looking at the same results.

So, how should you act on this?

Start now. And start by asking your boss for the goals and objectives of your senior executives so that you can stay in synch. Plant the seed that you would like to see them to make sure you are marching down the right path and then share what you have developed with your customers. If nothing else it will highlight where you and your customers are going.

Remember, developing goals and objectives for your team that are fundamentally aligned with the companies strategic objectives is a fundamental part of good management.