Review of good bits of info. about, by and for baby boomers
Monday, March 15, 2010
Posted by Rosie on September 14, 2008
Wanted: Baby Boomer Quotes. So If you have one you would like to share please post it as a comment.
Iwill gather them all up and post them on a separate page on this site. If you look up you will see that I have already put a quote on the page.
Please be sure to include the name of the author.
Thanks
Rosie
PS If you are the author of the quote and you have a site please include your url!
Posted by Rosie on
Health is valued very highly by baby boomers. Gary Null has a very resourceful site that will keep us all informed and active!
Posted by Rosie on
Political posts usually get a lot of comments if they are written well and really have something worthwhile to share. EbonyJet is a site to keep in your RSS feed.
Please also note that the author has officially entered into the world of “Baby Boomer Wisdom.” She has a lot to share from her experiance and opinions grounded in her personal values and insights.
The issue is , not really her point of view, but the fact that she had something solid to say. If it was not the case folks would not waste time giving their comments.
Check out this post that has stirred a great deal of response.
Posted by Rosie on September 11, 2008
As a baby boomer I am a strong advocate for relationship marketing. It not only enhances my speaking business but as a blog coach it let’s folks know I am serious about their blogging efforts.
I am also convinced that baby boomers have seen enough, erred enouth and smart enough to see the merits of relationship marketing and that personal touch.
I am sharing an article by a relationship marketing specialist which I found to be interesting. If you have articles you want me to share on this topic just let me know.
5 Steps You Can Take to Increase Your Client Referrals Now!
by Tim Feeley
Spending your money on advertising every month and not seeing results? Providing high quality professional services and no one is beating down your door? Coming to the realization that you are spending the same amount of time prospecting for new clients today that you did 5 years ago? Ouch!
Providing professional services is a people business. Your business grows by increasing services to existing clients and by building a mechanism that feeds your business a steady stream of quality prospects. Assume you provide the highest level of service possible (Accountant, lawyer, doctor, dentist, real estate agent, hair stylist, trainers, teachers, decorators, etc) to your clients. Studies have shown word of mouth marketing is the most effective form of advertising. When referred by an existing client, your new prospect already brings a level of trust to the new relationship. Other then hanging out together every Friday night with your client and sharing vacations with her family, how can you figuratively be at their side when a friend or family member brings up a need for your services?
Relationship marketing is the most effective tool for professional service people to grow their business. Giving free talks to local clubs, writing articles for local newspapers, setting up a desk or stand at local fairs, joining clubs and looking for opportunities to hand out business cards or creating a web presence in order to become a recognized expert are ways to market. You say you are not a public speaker? You say you don’t have time for these activities? You say you don’t feel comfortable introducing yourself to strangers? You feel darn right amazed at the fact that your 8 year old son or grand daughter knows more about the web than you do? Well, there is hope and there is something you can do immediately after reading this.
Implementing a relationship marketing program using greeting cards is an effective tool for growing your business today on your own terms, on your own budget and with very little of your time.
An insurance agent never paid for normal advertising. Whenever he signed up a new client, he always received their date of birth for their policies. Every week he or his secretary would send out a batch of birthday cards. No fancy advertising. He sent just a simple birthday greeting. Birthday cards became the foundation of his marketing plan.
A car salesman sent out a card to clients asking how things were going. He sent out a couple of cards to each client every year. If a client called with an issue he would make sure they were connected to the maintenance department. He would then follow-up with another card one week later to ensure the issue was answered to their satisfaction. Both his referrals and repeat business increased.
An accountant sent out 8 post cards a year. The mailings were timed to match the various tax submission dates the clients often forgot. Many of the clients were small businesses and the reminders were a terrific service and value.
Statistics show most sales happen after the 3rd – 11th contact. If after the first contact a prospect does not sign-up for your service, continue to build the relationship. Send a hello card every three months for 3 years. Things can change. Include a piece of helpful information and your value (future relationship) increases too.
Sending a thanks to a client for a referral, sending a card advising the client (Prospect) about an interesting web site, sending an anniversary card for 5 years of business are all terrific ways to build an “active” long-term relationship. Building a relationship and not “selling” a service will generate increased referrals. Again, and this is IMPORTANT, building a relationship and not “selling” a service will generate increased referrals.
Business referrals decrease substantially two years after a sale without additional client contact. How do you think your client would feel if you were to maintain contact every 3 months? No hard pressure sales letters. No buy now and save 25% discount flyers. Just, a quick hi and how are you card. It is a gentle reminder of your relationship with them and not a pitch for a sale. Implied in sending the card is the fact that you are available for your client and their friends when and “if” they need you.
There are many different ways to enhance this technique and are worth investigating. Techniques exist to increase not only referrals, but also client retention.
Remember ….”People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said… but they will always remember how you made them feel”. How do you feel when you receive a personal card in the mail?
Building a dependable and reliable stream of referrals using greeting cards is something you can do now. No excuses. And don’t forget to share your stories.
Posted by Rosie on September 10, 2008
Once again James Armstrong is a guest author for this site. Thanks! Enjoy this powerful message.
There is a tremendous disconnect between what the professionals in the economic development community and the human resources community know about the job situation versus what the typical man or woman in America believes about jobs in our country.
The most common misperception, in the United States, is there is an abundance of people for the jobs. In fact, there is a shortage of men and women for jobs. Even more significant, there is a skills shortage. It is fairly acute in certain areas and it is going to become worse. This is particularly true as baby boomers begin to drop out of the work force, either in whole or in part, in the coming years. This is going to become quite serious in our nation.
Today, many of the major television networks and big city daily newspapers focus their coverage almost exclusively on the loss of jobs at major corporations. In the process, they have taken a shortcut in evaluating what is really taking place in our society, which has been and continues to be that smaller companies in the U.S. have become the real job growth engines in our society. In addition, the healthcare sector and hospitals in particular, plus the government at all levels, are hiring.
Bear in mind, for example, in the recent past, we have had a 4.4 percent unemployment rate, which is the equivalent of a full employment economy. And, that is with the 11 or 12 million illegal immigrants in our society. This situation does not exist without them. In the future, we will be 800,000 RN nurses short of what we need. We are already 20,000 or 30,000 truck drivers short of what we currently require. We also have a shortage of IT workers, engineers, school teachers and government workers at all levels of government. By the way, these trends are becoming more acute all the time.
What can we do about this?
Instead of giving up, if we happen to be the victim of a downsizing, rightsizing or reorganization exercise, it’s time to reinvent ourselves. It’s time to look at things in a new way because it’s a new day in our lives. It’s time to explore all of our options. Of course, one of our options includes the possibility of moving from a higher unemployment area to an area of low unemployment in our society, such as the Rocky Mountain states. Almost every one of those states currently has 2 to 3 percent unemployment rates.
Now is also the time to consider going back to school for more education. In many instances, for example, a person may have lost a manufacturing job. The federal and state governments may be willing and able to pay for that individual to go back to school. And, it could be entirely free. In other words, the entire cost of the re-education or training effort may be paid for by the state, which is certainly an option that needs to be explored.
Have an optimistic attitude
In my book, which is “Now What? Discovering Your New Life and Career After 50,” I profiled 19 different men and women from all over the United States, with all different jobs and education levels. They also had different ethnic and religious backgrounds. And, they ranged from high school graduates to PhDs on the top end. But, what I found was this: There are many more similarities than dissimilarities between all of the men and women that were profiled. The ones who succeeded in this transition process continued to have an optimistic attitude, in spite of changes they were experiencing.
For example, there was a college professor from Austin, Texas, who was a locally prominent man. And, he is a PhD who was teaching MBAs and PhDs about labor arbitration and mediation. Meanwhile, he was serving part-time, in that capacity, from a federal government standpoint. But, now that he is retired, he receives his full retirement benefits from the University of Texas pension system. In fact, he receives a very fine retirement benefit from that system for the rest of his life.
Now, three or four days a week, depending on how many of these assignments he accepts, he goes out all over the southwestern part of the U.S. especially to arbitrate and mediate labor disputes. My questions to you are this: “How can we possibly outsource, to China or India, a labor negotiator or mediator? And, when will there ever not be a demand for someone in his position?” He told me, often times, just the threat of binding arbitration caused people to settle on their own even without him being physically in the room. He is in his early 70s, and he is, in fact, CEO of a small company that is headquartered in his home. He travels on behalf of the federal government and the mediation organizations that he represents.
Opportunities
Let’s say that you’re a nurse, or you’re considering a career option within the medical community. There are job openings or opportunities in virtually every kind of medical category you can imagine. There are even shortages of dental hygienists in our society. If someone goes back to school for two years and becomes a dental hygienist at 35 or 45 years old, they can have quite an excellent income. Plus, they will have a choice of dentist’s offices, where the hygienist gets to choose. Of course, MORE opportunities automatically go with the more education that someone pursues.
Posted by Rosie on
I often listen to talk radio. Today I heard Mark Riley and was impressed when he gave a caller his blog name. I noticed that he is a consistant writer on his site. He also has videos and a news feed.
So here it is for your visit and comments.
Posted by Rosie on September 2, 2008
Toolie has a great PC Tools class I took and actually understood. I learned a lot. She is doing the class again on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008 but Wednesday Sept. 3 she is doing a FREE preview. YOU CAN LEARN A LOT IN THAT CLASS.
So below I have the letter she sent me. Go check it out it will not be a waste of time.
If you’ve been thinking about attending the PC Power Tips: Create Your
Own Web Site course that starts September 4th but aren’t sure the
class is for you, I have great news! I’m having a Free Preview Webinar
entitled “Fix My Website, Please!” on Wednesday September 3rd at 6 pm
Pacific time.
When you sign up for the webinar, you can submit your website or a
website you like for review and help. Whether you’re looking for ideas
and suggestions for your site or curious about how another site is
constructed, you’ll be able to get a glimpse of the design process and
see how web sites are put together. Finally, we’ll wrap up with a
quick overview of the Course content.
You’ll definitely gain valuable information from this preview whether
you sign up for the course or not. The Preview Webinar will be
recorded, so even if you can’t attend, be sure to sign up and you’ll
have access to the recording.
Visit http://www.pcpowertips.com/webclass/webclasspreview.html to sign
up for the Preview. You’ll then receive an email from GoToWebinar with
link to register and receive your login information.
Class starts Thursday night September 4th. You can get all the details
about the course at TOOLIES WEBCLASS
See you Wednesday night!
Toolie
Posted by Rosie on
Listen to interview with Author, Carol Stanley, of new book for baby boomers called, For Kids 59.99 and Over.
Get your copy now!
