I found this very interesting quote in someone's signature whom I met on a business networking website:

"If you want to go fast, travel alone; but if you want to go far, travel together."
- African Proverb

How true – specially for software programming teams, which are so vulnerable due to individualistic goals. As if there is no tomorrow!

Do you send handwritten seasonal greetings to your clients?

It may sound to be very simple, regular stuff.  But it is surprising that still a large percentage of small businesses fail to use such an opportunity to strengthen their relationship with their clients on a personal level. And when I casually asked some of the culprits about the big problem that restricts them from acknowledging their clients, this is their surprising relevation:

• It is about time. Or shall I say (as I understand), mismanagement of time, since clients are the purpose of the business!
• Procastination. Almost every culprit claimed that he thought (I am really not sure if he is being truthful), but kept procastination and in no time the festive season was over.

But, if you are doing this, you are missing out on a great opportunity to make a personal contact with the "core of your business (i.e. your clients)" and saying them "Thank you" for the business they have given you. Not only it makes them feel special, it keeps you on top of their mind at all times, which can lead to more word-of-mouth and references.

But, its never late.
I will recommend that you:

• Plan out a small budget and some time for your special customers. BTW, if you can do it for all your customers, then go ahead and do it.
• Create a mailing list of all customers whom you wish to delight. Sign greeting cards personally. Do it much before the festive season (so that you do not forget this due to the big conference). Despatch them at the right time (or else have someone responsible for sending over these greetings on time).
• If your budget permits to spend 0.25% – 0.50% (I generally do spend this much) of your annual turnover, do send over seasonal gifts, sweets and wine to your special customers! You do not need to buy something very expensive. Just get across something special, which makes the day for your client and his family.

It makes your clients feel special and they remember you more often. And if they remember you more often, you get more business. Because timely recall and top-of-the-mind position will be the difference between you getting a deal over your competitor when the credentials, pricing and quality of service / product stands neck-to-neck.

Guys,

Recently some of my employees got unsolicited call from a gentleman called Manish Gupta, who wants to woo them away from my company to his startup. Of course like every normal human being, my colleagues also need a reason to go and work for a relatively unknown and small company.  So they need convincing. And he did put up an argument to convince them…

And then came the bummer!

He thinks that my colleagues should work for his company because he has a bigger vision and everyone has a bright future with him. But how do people believe him? Simple – His was the runner-up of the Business Baazigar contest of Zee TV.

I could not stop myself from laughing out at this humbleness.

Then I thought of doing some research on the business model and modus-operandi of his company. I found out that there was no innovation and no marketing strategy (mind you, he must have spent time in sales, but definitely not in marketing). He is selling the same old wine in the same old bottle with no value addition. There is no investment in human resource development, since the human resource policy is absolutely based on poaching.

Is this the vision, he is selling to my employees?

I wish him best of luck!

BTW, in all my humbleness, I will like to get my message across to Mr. Gupta that I have been on the jury panel of nationwide business plan contest (organized by one of the most reputed management institution in India), giving my inputs to several business baazigars who are working hard to build their dream company!

And yes, it does not hurt me anywhere. But it is sad to see this approach to business after getting the said recognition.

I hope he learn to differenciate, innovate and deliver!

And yes, I am fast losing faith in TV programs like Business Baazigar if this is the talent they have identified

I came across this rocking website called EasyBM (www.easybm.com), a FREE online service, which can help you in boosting your online productivity to new levels. I generally do not get excited about something so quickly. My exposure to new ideas and business plans make me immune to general ideas. But I got excited by the simplicity of the idea and how it can make life simpler for everyone.

Enough of social bookmarks, lets get personal!

This is a personal bookmarking website which gives you a 1-click access to your favorite websites, thus acting as your portal to Internet in the true sense. (If you don't believe me, check out the definition of portal). When you note a site URL on your private bookmarks page, only you can to access that shortcut. Your favorite sites appear on a password protected page and a result, only you (or someone you allow access to) can see which sites you have bookmarked. So these bookmarks become your personal bookmarks!

Social bookmarking is a great way to find and recommend interesting sites. But let us face the fact – You don't want to share all the information with everyone out there on the web. Let us consider some scenarios:

• Access your Internet banking account
• Research about a top-secret project which you cannot share with anyone
• A valuable list of resources which you only want to share with *yourself* which helps you to be more effective in your job that your competitor

I am sure you will not like to share these website links with everyone out there! But, you do access them everyday – every time. So what do you do? The answer is simple – Personal Bookmarking.

Don't we have personal bookmarking in our browsers?

Now, you might think – Every web browser has personal bookmarking feature built in – then why do I need a service like EasyBM. Let me tell you – you still do need them for these simple reasons:

• Your personal bookmarks are not available to you when you are not accessing Internet from your regular PC
• You may lose those bookmarks when your PC catches virus
• You cannot open "first bunch of sites" with 1-click. With EasyBM, you can!
• You cannot make an organization-wide internal bookmarking system to collect knowledge at a central place using your browser bookmarks

And above all, you still need to click on "Favorites" and scroll down to the right site and click on that when you use a browser bookmark. So it is good for things that you do not need every-now-and-then! But EasyBM (once set as your homepage) opens with those selected bookmarks every time you open a new browser and is simply a click away!

I wish easyBM all the best and I am sure this nice little idea can make positive change to the way people use Internet.

P.S.: BTW, this is not a paid review. I don't do them. I only write about something when I really like it.