Greetings!
Read on for some new thoughts to tickle your brain. And don't forget to download the feature article, "Your Job Is Safe for Now." I know you'll find it interesting.
Whatever you're making, selling, or servicing, we wish you success! |
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The Case for Outsourcing
 Sell-Through Solutions gets most of its consulting work with companies who already sport lavish, successful training departments. Those companies are obsessed with getting better and staying on top, and they have a near-fetish for new ideas and energy. The companies who could use our help the most are, curiously, also the ones who resist outsourcing the most. "I don't even pay my own people that much," they say. I beg to differ. If you hired someone like me as an employee, you'd not only pay my executive-level salary, you'd also pay me that same salary:
- During my three weeks of vacation
- For up to ten sick days per year
- For half a dozen personal days
- For half a dozen paid holidays
That's 43 days you'd pay me for doing absolutely nothing. In addition to that salary, you'd pay:
- Medical insurance
- Dental insurance
- Vision insurance
- Disability insurance
- Liability insurance
- 401(k) matching funds
- Payroll taxes
- Bonuses
- For all my trips to trade shows
You'd pay for my continuing vocational education, including:
- Job skills, including Microsoft Office, Photoshop,
computing, audio/video editing, and presentation skills
- Executive retreats
- Management skills
If I travel for the company, you'd pay for my laptop, as well as for my:
- High-speed Internet access
- Blackberry
- Mobile phone bills
- Wireless broadband on the road
- Home office phone bills
- Sample account
- Video conferencing gear
- Office supplies, including printer, paper, stationery,
business cards, fax machine, and more
- Windows or Mac operating system, Microsoft Office,
- Photoshop, and all software utilities
- Presentation equipment (projector, microphones,
sound system, remote, etc.)
Outsourced training consultation, compared to all of the above, actually works out to less. And outsourcers usually telecommute, which means no drain on the home office resources, and that much less dependence on foreign oil. Best of all, for less money, you get state-of-the-art labor that never fails to enhance and energize your own efforts with new ideas and skills, while elevating your status in the marketplace. I'd say you're getting quite the deal. |
Hack the Sirius Radio in Your Rental Car
Fellow travelers: If you rent a Hertz car with a Sirius radio, you don't get the good Sirius radio. You get the gnarly little add-on unit, with the jacked-up install and the FM modulator. The modulator is hard-set by Hertz to 88.5 FM, a frequency bound to get you lots of interference in the bigger cities (San Francisco, anyone?). And there's no way to change that frequency.
Until now. Here's the hack, my disciples. To change the frequency to 88.1, hit SHIFT, 0921, then SHIFT again.
88.3: SHIFT 0922 SHIFT
88.5: SHIFT 0923 SHIFT
88.7: SHIFT 0924 SHIFT
88.9: SHIFT 0925 SHIFT
89.1: SHIFT 0926 SHIFT
89.3: SHIFT 0927 SHIFT
Those are all the choices you get, which should be enough. While you're at it, hack the display from green to orange: SHIFT 0952 SHIFT. Back to green: SHIFT 0951 SHIFT. Just remember: before you return the car, put it back the way you got it. We'd hate for Hertz to get pissed off and find another way to lock us out.
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Bosses: Ten Tips for Better Emails
What does your email say about you as a manager? A lot, Says David A. Owens, clinical professor of management at Vanderbilt University's Owen School of Management. It provides a window into your workplace status, work habits, stress levels, even your personality, he says.
Email is an extremely valuable communication channel for today's managers, but it can be abused if used carelessly or too much, Owens says. Here are ten basic tips for better email use and management:
Use email as one channel of communication, but not your only one. It's fast and easy. It can document discussions. It enables high-impact messages to be sent around the world with the click of a mouse. But it also misleads bosses into thinking they can manage large groups of people through regular group emails, Owens says. Use email wisely, but don't manage your company through it.
Keep it short and sweet, and don't allow email threads longer than a football field. Know that emails longer than one screen often aren't read right away; they get shoved to the end of the day or to the next morning. Know also when it's time to put down the mouse and go talk to someone, or pick up the phone. There comes a point when further emailing eats up time unnecessarily.
Decode your messages as much as possible. Say what you really want to have happen. Start with the subject line: Make it clear and compelling (and be willing to change it when the subject in a thread changes). Be certain about who really needs to be on the "to:" and the "cc.:" line. Be clear about action items and priorities. Spell them out, as lists or bulleted items. Include a response button or some other mechanism if you must know that everyone has read or understood your message.
Encourage people to respond with questions. That's akin to keeping your office door open.
Save your wrath for face-to-face meetings. "Flame mails," or emails dripping with criticism or venom, often backfire. Terse emails, because they are not accompanied by the writer's facial expression or body language, can easily come across more harsh than intended. You control the message--and the emotions on the other end--much better by delivering it in person or over the phone.
Likewise, inject humor, but keep emoticons, smiley faces, and joke mails to a minimum. The smiley faces do help clarify when you're being facetious. But too many facetious emails will erode your attempts to write serious ones. What about joke emails? Some companies forbid them. Send them or pass them on at your own risk, Owens says. There is usually more downside than upside, but everybody needs a good laugh now and then. Again, too many joke mails will erode your attempts to send serious ones.
Consider setting a five-minute buffer between when you send and when it goes out. Both Owens and Maureen Dolan Rosen, a human resources consultant, see value in managers being able to retract poorly written messages before they go out. "A five-minute rule won't hurt anyone," Owens says. In Microsoft Outlook, you can delay the delivery of messages for a specified time through the "Rules Wizard." If you're angry when you're about to write, take a step further. Get up and walk around or do something else before you write the mail.
Work in time each day to answer your emails, or get help. If you can't keep up during a normal day, build time into your workday or delegate some of the responsibility. When is it too late to respond to someone? Never. Just make sure you have a good explanation.
If you can't write emails effectively, get some training. Or at least get help from a secretary or subordinate. Email should have some role in your communication with employees, partners, and others--there is really no valid reason to avoid it. But know that any remote workers and others who don't see you regularly may judge you largely on your emails.
Use a spell checker--and a thesaurus. Avoid typos and mangled sentences. They make you look bad. Avoid cliches, too. |
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Let Us Help You!
Sell-Through Solutions creates training content for CE and Computer manufacturers to utilize at retail, as well as presentation and PowerPoint skill-building programs. Call Charles Thompson at 863-815-1760 or email here to shift your company's training effort into high gear! |
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| Your Job Is Safe
For Now 
This month's feature article takes a look at our industry's near-future, and why the dire predictions of the tech prognosticators may not come to pass. Find out what we, the people who make, sell, install, and service A/V hardware, can do to stay viable in
turbulent times.
Hey, I realize the article is a download, but invest the 11 seconds and get it. You won't be sorry. Click the image above to download. |
My Favorite Gadgets
We all know that technology is a mixed blessing. Along with the promise of making our lives easier, we get onscreen menus that look like NASA Mission Control, and product manuals bigger than the Boston phone book. Here are a few of my favorite things, toys that transcend all of the above while actually making life not only easier, but more fun.
Felston DD740 Lip-Sync Black Box
Anyone who mixes their new HDMI-connected TV with a legacy audio system (coaxial and optical digital audio inputs) is guaranteed to have lip sync problems. The culprit: extensive video processing, mixed with relatively simple audio processing, means the audio gets to you before the lips move. Felston's magic box takes care of that. It delays the audio by whatever amount you specify, up to 680ms, perfectly syncing audio and video. Remote-controllable, different memories for different inputs, and it even mixes its four optical and coaxial inputs to a single coaxial output, or vice versa, or both. $249.
Slim Devices Transporter Network Music Player
Simply the only true high-end, disc-less, digital music device in the world. The $2000, infinitely customizable Transporter brings all your digital music, from MP3 to WAV and everything in between, to your hi-fi. Also includes access to Rhapsody, Pandora, Internet radio, and more. Over-the-top performance, courtesy of the AK4396 "Miracle DAC" that even has inputs for other digital devices, allowing the Transporter to perform as the digital-to-analog converter for, say, your CD player, sending the audio to its--wait for it--stereo XLR balanced outputs. Phenomenal.
Sonos Digital
Music System
Like the Transporter, the Sonos brings you all your digital music. Where the Transporter is the ultimate audio geek machine, the Sonos sports the best human interface under $1000 in home entertainment history. Put the Sonos controller in anyone's hands, from ages 9 to 90, and watch them get at the music instantly, with a smile on their face.
From $599.
Wacom Intuos 3 Drawing Tablet
If you think you're creative in Photoshop, and don't own one of these, think again. The Wacom will bring out the graphic artist in anyone. When you get used to it, the thing could even replace the mouse--no more carpal tunnel. Of course, it plays well with mice, too. Well-heeled artists can spring for the $999 Cintiq LCD version, which lets you draw right on the monitor. From $199.
Logitech Harmony One System Remote
A killer price for a remote with a full-color touch screen, an intuitive, redesigned button layout with finger-friendly buttons, and the now-famous one-touch access to everything, along with guided setup. Passes the "guest test": put one in a guest's hand, and they can instantly watch or listen to any home theater system. $250.
Universal Remote MX-Series Remotes
Where the Logitech is elegant simplicity, these remotes are brute force, allowing you to conquer even the most sophisticated deep-menu processors, such as the Lexicon MC-12HD and the Yamaha RX-Z11. Features: color LCD screens, a bevy of hard buttons emulating the legendary TiVo layout, and infinite customization.
From $149.
Any HD DVR
While the standalone TiVo easily remains the gold standard, you can get fine DVRs from anyone these days, including the dramatically improved DVRs from both DIRECTV and DISH Network. Even the crude cable company ones are light years better than no DVR at all. These machines will enhance your home entertainment enjoyment more than any other. I'd give up everything else on this list before I gave up my DVR. For a good overview of the possibilities, start with TiVo's website.
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