Archive for the ‘Problem Solving’ Category

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The second most important web site for your business

Sunday, June 19th, 2011

Internet marketers and business owners always ask me where they should be putting their marketing efforts.  Of course, your company Web site is a critical place for you to spend time and money.

But what’s the second most important Web site for your business?  I’ll give you a hint.

It’s not Linkedin.  And it’s not your Linkedin business page, although you should have one.

It’s not your Facebook page.  And it’s not your Facebook business page.  You should have one of those, too.

The second most important Web site for your business is not YouTube.

It’s not even Google.

These are all valuable sites for marketing your products and services, but the one site that should be a part of every online business in 2009 is …

Twitter.

Here’s why in one sentence–Google crawls individual Tweets.  

You can post Facebook status updates all day and night, but Google will not see them.  The same is true for your Linkedin status updates.

But, Google indexes your individual messages on Twitter and makes them available to people doing Web searches forever.  Of course, you’ll be putting key words in your Tweets, but imagine what will happen when you’re putting your Web site address (or an abbreviated version of it) in 80% of your Tweets.

This is probably hard to imagine because Facebook and Linkedin don’t work like this.  Twitter is more powerful than Facebook and Linkedin combined!

That’s why, if you aren’t using Twitter, you are missing out on the greatest opportunity for building relationships with your customers and prospects.  You are missing out on the best free branding tool on the web.

And you are missing out on huge amounts of free traffic and increased sales!

There’s just no excuse for any business, large or small, to not be using Twitter, which has improved my reach immensely.  I’m on Twitter at @MichaelACaruso

Learn more about using Twitter and other social media platforms from my four CD program–a home or work study course titled, Social Media for Work.  For a limited time, I am including a free 30-page, social media e-book with all orders, so click today!

Best of luck on all your marketing efforts.  I you want training or other types of help, let me know.  Let’s get the word out!

-Michael Angelo Caruso, Royal Oak, Michigan

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Posted in Career development, Communication, Creativity, Customer Service, Entreprenuers, Growing Your Business, Marketing, Problem Solving, Sales and Marketing, Selling, Social Media, Success, Training, Writing and Publishing | No Comments »

Oh, and you’re doing social media wrong

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Is social media not fun for you anymore?

Lots of people are frustrated by Facebook and confused by Twitter.  They’re spending lots of time posting and setting up business pages, but not getting much for their efforts.

When things aren’t going right, it can be helpful to look at what you’re doing wrong.  I can help you in at least two ways.

1.)  I’m holding a cool social media event on Tuesday, June 14 in Troy, Michigan.  This event really is social.  There’ll be food, drink, music, and conviviality, whatever that is.

2.)  If you can’t attend, you can get the content on audio CD.  Use the Coupon Code SOCIAL to save a whopping $33, if you order within the next 24 hours.

Either way, you’ll get a ton of great information on how to improve your situation using the most revolutionary communication tool since the invention of the telephone–social media, baby.


Can I be direct with you?

Internet marketer, Michael Angelo Caruso, gives social media training. I think one of the reasons for my success in the speaking and training business is that I’m a direct person.  I tell clients what they’re doing right and I tell them what they’re doing wrong.  I tell them exactly how to improve.

Not everyone likes my style.  Heck, I don’t like being told I’m wrong.  But when I get over my ego issues and really pay attention, I improve.

So, here I go again, being direct.  I hope it helps you improve.  Based on what I’m seeing out there…


Here’s what you’re doing wrong on social media:

Your accounts are stagnant.

You’re busy on Facebook, but not productive.

You’re selling too much and closing too little.

You follow the wrong people on Twitter.

You don’t allow comments on your blog.

You add people online, but don’t follow up in any meaningful way.

You have ads on your blog.

You’re not using RSS feeds.

Your blog posts are too short.

Your videos are too long.

You don’t follow people back.

You curse online.

You don’t “Facebook with purpose.”

You push the same updates to every platform.

You don’t edit your photos before posting.

You’re not producing enough content.


Want to know more?

Want to fix what’s wrong?  Wanna know what you’re doing right?

Then attend my great social media event on Tuesday evening, June 14 at the fabulous Tre Monti restaurant in Troy, Michigan.

If you can’t attend, order my Social Media That Works program on (4 audio CDs).  Use Coupon Code:  SOCIAL to get 1/3 off; save $33, but only for the next 24 hours!)

Let’s get your social media campaigns humming so more people can purchase your great products and services!

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Posted in Blogging, Career development, Communication, Creativity, Customer Service, Entertainment, Entreprenuers, Growing Your Business, Internet marketing, Personal Development, Problem Solving, Sales and Marketing, Seminar, Social Media, Success, Training | No Comments »

The best keyword is “research”

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

Search has become a very important business tool.

Businesses all over the fruited plain are constantly trying to figure out the best keyword to use on their Web sites.

The best keyword for all of us, it turns out, is “research.”

Brother Dave on left

And search engine optimization (SEO), despite its complicated moniker, offers some very simple marketing lessons.  I’m reminded of something my brother Dave Caruso taught me a while back when we were trying to improve the effectiveness of my Web site.

My site has always had a number of products and programs related to “self improvement.”

Dave, a great linear thinker and fantastic “systems” guy, did a few quick Google searches to compare how often people search “self help” vs. “self improvement.”

He found that the following variations gave these totals (results in millions):

Keyword search # of hits
self-help                             89,700
self help                                 89, 600
self improvement              30,200
self-improvement             21,200

This was HUGE and I immediately wanted to change my site to take advantage of this discovery.

Then, Dave checked the number of hits for one more term:  “personal improvement.”  At the time, those key words showed 124,000,000–far more than the other key word phrases!

“Personal improvement” was the keyword phrase to optimize.  Thanks, brother!

When doing SEO, make sure you do research to discover which key words and phrases will rank highly.  You may be surprised!

Keyword research helps people find me, even if I’m in Royal Oak, Michigan.  Which, um, I am.      – Michael Angelo Caruso, Motivational speaker, Internet student

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Posted in Blogging, Communication, Creativity, Growing Your Business, Information products, Internet marketing, Marketing, Personal Development, Problem Solving, Sales and Marketing, Selling, Social Media, Success, Writing and Publishing | No Comments »

Customer feedback is a gift

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

Good or bad, true or false, it’s always good to know what customers are thinking.  Customer feedback is a gift.  That’s why I love it when clients tell me what they think of my training programs.

Often, the client will prepare an executive summary for his boss and cc me, which is pretty cool.

Here’s what my client Frank, sent his boss and his team, after I did a sales training program for his team in southern California a while back:

August 30, 2010

To: Our Employees

From: Frank S.

Re: Sales Training with Caruso

Greetings,

Thank you to those of you who were able to attended sales training with Michael Angelo Caruso on August 14, 2010 at La Mirada.   Based on the course evaluations, all who attended the training enjoyed it and learned some very helpful ideas.

Below are some key points discussed at the sales training. We need to practice and reinforce these habits with all PTO team members. These small acts of politeness and respect to our customers (and everyone you come into contact with) have already made a difference in helping us grow customer relationships and our sales.

1) Smile, say “hello”, and introduce yourself to every customer you come in contact with.  Smiling releases endorphins, which will make you will feel better throughout the day.

2) Get the customer’s and name and “listen” to your customer very attentively.  Many times, when customer is given the opportunity to explain the whole issue, you learn exactly what you need to close the sale.  Ask more questions and then listen for other sales opportunities.

3) After a customer receives a product quote and says “Let me think about it”, respond “what specifically do you still have questions about?”  Then remind the customer that we have the right product and we are ready to deliver it ASAP.

4) When appropriate, ask the customer about their weekend or family.  Try to learn a little bit about the customer. Building customer relationships, builds loyalty.

5) After a sale is complete, shake the customer’s hand, give him your business card, and genuinely say “thanks for the business.” Then, close with “we look forward to seeing you next time!”

6) Call at least the top 5 largest invoices from the prior day and thank the customer for their business and make sure the sale was problem free.  If they are not available, leave a “thank you” message on their voicemail.

7) Michael made a good point about teaching customers how to treat us.  Our store employees are much more than just clerks.  We will now refer to our counter personnel are now “Parts consultants.”

With everyone focused on these little things, we will continue to grow our company together.   Thanks for your help!


Summary

Frank’s company has been a client of mine for over five years and I’m grateful.  I find the above feedback immensely gratifying for two main reasons:

a)  They like me, they really like me!  (Apologies to the actress, Sally Field.)

b) These great people are now in a better place when it comes to improving sales and providing better customer service.

The moral of the story is to pay attention to what customers say after you’ve served them.

I know I do.  Customer feedback is a gift.  What’s your favorite way to receive feedback?  Written?  Verbal?  On a blog or via Linkedin?

-Michael, MichaelAngeloCaruso.com in Royal Oak, Michigan

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Posted in Blogging, Communication, Creativity, Customer Service, Entreprenuers, Growing Your Business, Problem Solving, Sales and Marketing, Self improvement, Selling, Success, Training | No Comments »

Best practices for using Twitter

Saturday, May 28th, 2011

Want to get more from Twitter?  Here’s a list of best practices that’ll help you maximize the awesome power of this great social media tool.

Twitter is not as difficult or as mysterious as it first seems.  As Bob Dylan sings, “The times, they are a changin.’”  Thanks to Twitter, now you are the newspaper.  You are your own advertising company and public relations firm.  Let’s get the word out!

Here are 5 cool ideas for using Twitter:

1.  Talk about things central to your brand or personality. It helps if your tweets are relevant to what’s going on in the media.  “Trending” topics almost always get more attention online.

2.  Be funny. If you’re not funny, tweet messages from people who are funny.  People like to share witticisms.

3.  Post an original tweet about every two hours. Do not share information that’s been shared to death.  Avoid clichés like the plague.  ;-)    You may also want to stay away from negative news.

4.  Leave trails to your Web site. Use the first 70 characters of your Tweet to ask a question or pose a problem.  Use the second 70 characters to answer the question or offer a solution.  Often, but not always, the solution should contain a link to your Web site.  Use tiny URLs that don’t use a lot of characters.

5.  Get with the program. Follow those who follow you.  Retweet messages from the cool kids.   Recommend people on Follow Friday, by posting “#FF” and their Twitter names, e.g., @MichaelACaruso.

These are just a few ideas for sweet tweets.  See how you can use these techniques and more by following me on Twitter at @MichaelACaruso.

-Michael, Royal Oak, Michigan, www.MichaelAngeloCaruso.com

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Posted in Communication, Creativity, Customer Service, Entreprenuers, Growing Your Business, Internet marketing, Personal Development, Problem Solving, Sales and Marketing, Self improvement, Selling, Social Media, Success | No Comments »

Being wrong just feels right, eh Rapture fans?

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

Sorry, Rapture peeps. The end of the world did not come on schedule this month. Better luck next time.

Hey, don’t feel bad.  It’s not the end of the world.

In fact, sometimes being wrong just feels right. There are always a few lessons to be learned from an error in judgment. Here are some things we can learn from being wrong:

1) Humility. Some people are naturally humble. The rest of us need to occasionally be taken down a peg.

2) Respect the opinion of others. If you’re wrong about something, there’s a good chance that someone else is right. Maybe they were right all along. How embarrassing for you.

3)  Being wrong helps with the art of apology. Being able to say “I was wrong” and “I’m sorry” is one of the best things we can do as human beings.

4)  Being wrong helps you figure out what’s right. The process of elimination or what I call the “process of illumination.”

Speaking of shining the light, Thomas Edison failed 637 times before he invented the light bulb.  I could be wrong about that.

Some people make a hobby out of being wrong.  They’re called Devil’s advocates.  These weirdos take the opposing view on an issue, just for the sake of argument.

In the end, being wrong helps us be more successful.

Physicist, Richard Feynman, advised us to “Fail as fast as you can.”

So don’t despair, Rapture fans.  I’ll play Devil’s advocate to REM.  I’s not the end of the world as you know it.  And I feel fine.

From Royal Oak, Michigan–Michael Angelo Caruso

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Posted in Career development, Communication, Creativity, Entertainment, Entreprenuers, Growing Your Business, Leadership, Personal Development, Problem Solving, Self improvement | No Comments »

5 cool ideas for better presentations

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

It’s been a both a pleasure and an honor to be a professional speaker for over 15 years.  I’ve learned a few good techniques along the way and here are 5 Cool Ideas to help you be a better presenter.

Follow MichaelACaruso on Twitter


1.  A good pre-game show will help you get your game on. When creating your presentation, write it backwards, starting with the call-to-action.

2.  Use my “Power of Three” to speak without notes. Many people are nervous when speaking in front of an audience.  Nerves only make it harder to seem relaxed and stay on message.  The secret is to focus on only three points.

3.  Do six things in the first five minutes of every presentation. I cover all six tips in on the DVD, but here are two:

a)  Teach the audience something they don’t know and they’ll pay attention to the rest of your talk and

b)  Get the audience to do something right away, such as write something down, raise their hand, etc.  This precedent will come in handy when you issue a call-to-action at the end of your presentation.

4.  What you say with your body is more important than what you say with your mouth. Body language doesn’t lie.  Saying you’re confident is wasted breath, if your body language says the opposite.  Learn to present with congruity.

5.  Always ask the audience to take action. If you are very specific and give a reasonable time frame, attendees are more likely to follow through.

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Get more great tips by ordering Michael’s Present Like a Pro DVD.  It’s a 45-minute video that both shows and tells how you can be much more effective when speaking to groups.  www.MichaelAngeloCaruso.com or 248-224-9667 for more info.

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Posted in Career development, Communication, Creativity, Customer Service, Entreprenuers, Growing Your Business, Keynote, Leadership, Personal Development, Problem Solving, Sales and Marketing, Self improvement, Speaking | 3 Comments »

Act as if someone is watching

Monday, May 9th, 2011

I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said, “Always act as if you’re on television.”

Or something like that.      ;-)

Anyway, a long time ago, I was delivering a public seminar in Kansas City, Missouri.

It was a crappy, rainy day.  The hotel was crappy.  I was in a crappy mood.  And then only 11 people came to the program, which only made things worse.

But, I put on the actor’s mask and tried to give what the Disney people call “a good show.”

Turns out that one of the attendees was employed at the famous Hallmark greeting card company.  You may remember their famous slogan:  “When you care enough to send the very best.”


Always do your best

I did my very best that day and that nice lady from Hallmark eventually booked me to speak at her company.  It was a major gig for me at the time and Hallmark was a blue-chip client that got a lot of attention when added to my client list.

Over the years, that client list has come to include other high-flyer clients such as Rayovac, the Barbados Ministry of Tourism, Verizon Wireless, the United States Navy, and AT&T.

You can view my complete client list along with what they say about me.

So, always act as if someone is watching.  Someone usually is.

Have you ever caught someone watching?

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Posted in Career development, Communication, Creativity, Customer Service, Growing Your Business, Personal Development, Problem Solving, Self improvement, Success | No Comments »

How to blog every day

Friday, May 6th, 2011

Like most rewarding activities, blogging requires discipline and focus.

You’re going to need both in order to post frequently.

It also helps to have a bunch of handy-dandy tricks.  Below, I share some of my blogging secrets.  You’re going to need the proper mindset, tools, time, and the need to succeed.


Mindset

In order to blog every day, you must have a free flow of ideas from mind to keyboard. If a person only has so many “attention units” in a day, it’s important that units aren’t squandered on disorganization, drama, and trivial pursuits.

In other words, clean your desk, free your mind of clutter, and stop running late all the time.

Strong blog posts require clear thinking.  Daily blogging requires expediency a creative verve.

This means always being on the lookout for blog topics and having the ability to capture the idea in written format.


Tools

I always carry a pen and paper.  Sometimes it’s a small notebook.  Sometimes it’s an 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper that’s gate-folded and slipped into the breast pocket of my sport coat.

I also keep notes in my iPhone.  If my computer is available, I may decide to keystroke the blog topic directly into my WordPress site where it can be published immediately or saved as a draft.

I’ve even been known to take a photo of a blog idea or leave myself a voice mail message.


Time

Blogging more frequently doesn’t require more time.  You’ll have plenty of time to write, if you just stop doing other things. 

Here are five reasons why I always have plenty of time to blog:

  1. I write far more blog posts than I read.  (If you’re reading, you can’t be writing.)
  2. I can’t remember the last time I watched a complete ball game on TV.
  3. I never stand in line.
  4. I never take a meeting, especially for “networking” purposes, without at least one expected deliverable for both parties.  This saves TONS of time.
  5. I have a fantastic vocabulary (thanks, Wordsmith.org!) and write very fast.  Can rewrite even faster.


The need to succeed

Finally, successful bloggers have an almost compulsive need to enlighten and entertain others.   I’m quite dedicated to this goal, which is why I posted an article on how you can blog every day.

For more tips on blogging, check out my fun interview with Michigan soccer mom, Paula Parisot, who gets paid for blogging.

How often do you blog now?  Do you think the above tricks can be helpful for you?  Do you have others?

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Posted in Career development, Communication, Creativity, Entertainment, Growing Your Business, Internet marketing, Personal Development, Problem Solving, Sales and Marketing, Self improvement, Social Media, Weblogs, Writing and Publishing | No Comments »

Best way to solve this problem–make it worse

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

Kudos to the folks who have probably saved Cairo, Illinois from a devastating flood.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has taken action to blow up the local Mississippi River levee, before rising water levels create havoc for the community.

Read the full story on CNN.com.

Clever idea for fixing something–make it worse.

And yet, this brilliant strategy doesn’t usually make the list when someone is considering options.


There are many ways to solve a problem

Wikipedia lists the following problem-solving techniques.  How many of these do you use?

* Abstraction: solving the problem in a model of the system before applying it to the real system

* Analogy: using a solution that solved an analogous problem

* Brainstorming: (especially among groups of people) suggesting a large number of solutions or ideas and combining and developing them until an optimum is found

* Divide and conquer: breaking down a large, complex problem into smaller, solvable problems

* Hypothesis testing: assuming a possible explanation to the problem and trying to prove (or, in some contexts, disprove) the assumption

* Lateral thinking: approaching solutions indirectly and creatively

* Means-ends analysis: choosing an action at each step to move closer to the goal

* Method of focal objects: synthesizing seemingly non-matching characteristics of different objects into something new

* Morphological analysis: assessing the output and interactions of an entire system

* Reduction: transforming the problem into another problem for which solutions exist

* Research: employing existing ideas or adapting existing solutions to similar problems

* Root cause analysis: eliminating the cause of the problem

* Trial-and-error: testing possible solutions until the right one is found


Summary

So, when thinking about how to solve a particular problem, consider making things worse.

-Michael Angelo Caruso, Royal Oak, Michigan

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