THIS MIGHT HURT: Don't Conceptualize - Quantify and Comfort.

Written by Featured Author Douglas Castle for THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. Get your free subscription at http://twitlik.com/OK.

Dear Readers (at least those who are not fully hypnotized by the eerie glowing logo at the top):

We are surrounded by people who are trying to influence us, or to even sell products, services and investments to us, based exclusively on "potential," "visions," "ideas," "scenarios," and "concepts." These are all wonderful things, as they each are necessary to the germination of innovation or action; however, in a society awash in "million-dollar ideas," "get-rich-quick schemes," and an incessant barrage of offers from less than credible parties, audiences are getting increasingly skeptical, and require better assurances and evidence before choosing to make purchase decisions. Selling anything is more difficult than ever before, with the possible exceptions of liquor and illegal narcotics.

Your prospective client, customer, co-venturer or investor also has less available money and more need to feel a sense of certainty than in many years. He or she hears of ideas, opportunities and concepts all day long. An ever-increasing number of pushy people is vying to capture your quarry's attention, business and scarce, precious dollars. Even professionals such as dentists are spending a greater percentage of their revenues than ever before on marketing campaigns, ads, publicity and on visit or patient referral incentives. Many services that were once considered ordinary and reasonable are now being considered optional and dispensible.

The impediment to marketing success is no longer merely inertia -- the elements of wariness and a tight-money environment have compounded your challenge.

Increasingly, your market is demanding that you clearly demonstrate:

1. Why they need your product or service;

2. How your product or service is superior than that of any competitors in its class;

3. How they will gain, and how much they will gain by using your product or service;

4. How much they will save, how they will save it and over what timeframe this will happen by using your product or service;

5. How much they stand to lose by failing to purchase your product or service;

6. How they can be assured that their investment in your product or service is safe, prudent and guaranteed; and

7. How they will be continually serviced by your company, and that they will not orphaned when your company decides (after accumulating a shipload of debt and payables) to pull up its tent stakes and flee the jurisdiction.

In the wake of the dot.com bust, the publicly-disclosed transgressions of many people in positions of public trust and power, and the failure of numerous iconic institutions (Merrill Lynch, Lehmann Brothers, Bank of America, do not expect to be trusted and invited in just because of your brand identity alone. You will be forced to make a case for the qualitative and quantitative benefits of your product or service.

You are no longer simply making friends...you now have to fight to WIN friends. You are cast in difficult the role of converting doubt to belief, and bargaining harder and smarter for a smaller cache of dollars. With every announcement, advertisement, news release and presentation you are like a doctoral candidate defending his or her thesis. Say goodbye to the yellow brick road and hello to the gauntlet and ordeal of fire. The market is abandoning unexamined renewals and traditional loyalties, and has become a much meaner beast than ever.

Sounds tough. Is it worth it? Absolutely.

You must now deal in statistics, numbers, facts, demonstrative examples, concrete illustrations, references and promises supported by viable guarantees or collateral. The task is daunting, but the market belongs to the QUANTIFIERS and the COMFORT-GIVERS. If you are an effective quantifier and comfort-giver, you now have an actual advantage (that's correct -- an advantage) in the new economy. Good News: Your new customers and clients will be harder to win, but they will tend to be more tenaciously loyal to you if you can make them feel confident and comfortable despite these difficult times.

Here are several things that you must be prepared to do:

1. Describe precisely what your product or service does, and how it is different from any marketplace alternatives;

2. Demonstrate (in a written format, with several compelling and supportable examples) the quantitative gain (or reduction of loss) which can be garnered by your customer or client if he or she wisely chooses to invest in your product or service;

3. Compare yourself with the competition -- not only philosophically but itemized differences and quantified benefits;

4. Frame the purchase or rental of your product or service in terms of a simple ROI (return on investment). ROIs are fascinating, easily related to (like interest rates or capital growth) and provide a highly time-honored basis of comparison...subject, of course to risk constraints. You may also frame the purchase, rental or investment in terms of how long it will take for the party being convinced to recouperate his or her investment in a complete payback, or through an exit strategy. Even the most sophisticated analytical minds lean toward the perception that "as soon as I have recovered my money, my risk is gone and I am getting benefits for free." Right or wrong, this is a very common perception and decisionmaking tool; and

5. Comfort your prospective customer, client, co-venturer or investor with a listing of the factors which guarantee this ROI. Show how every risk is mitigated. It sometimes helps to show an absolute worst case scenario and a medium case scenario (with graphs, tables, charts, and the like), and to mention that you a) do not think it necessary to present a best case scenario, and b) that you are first concerned about protecting the integrity of the investment, and secondarily about all of the "plusses" . Sounding a bit conservative and cautious will help the person opposite you shift closer to your side.


Concepts are the wonderful products of imagination and vision. But if you are serious about winning hearts, minds and budget allocations, you will have to quantify and comfort in order to convert listeners to signers.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

p.s. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments regarding this article either by 1) leaving a comment where provided right below this article; 2) visiting http://aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com/ and connecting with me through that page; or by 3) simply emailing me at douglas.castle@yahoo.com or telephoning me (toll-free) at 888.317.6498 (Extension 3).


For more information, please visit Douglas' TNNW Bio.

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

THIS MIGHT HURT: Don't Conceptualize - Quantify and Comfort.

DAVE CLARKE: Get off your Arse. New book from leader of UK based 4Networking

by Dave Clarke

Next month sees the publication of a new book from Brad Burton the Managing Director of the relatively young and fast growing successful UK breakfast networking business, 4Networking.

The title of the book, Get Off Your Arse, is sure to raise a few eyebrows in true Brad style. I asked Brad about the book and it's title.

Why write a book, Brad?

"You know Dave, in business it’s not all private number plates, fish tanks and spinning chairs when you start a business off and this book covers the highs, the lows of starting off a network which at the time was regarded a as a shut out shop..

People said I was mad for starting a breakfast network off, fast forward 3.5 years and those same people are now referring to me as a genius."

What’s with that title?

"I’m not one for controversy. Look the basics of any business is getting off your arse its that simple, no point in looking at an excel document, I encounter many Spreadsheet millionaires, each week its easy making money on spreadsheets I’ve done it 100’s of times. But unless you get off your arse that spreadsheet is never going to happen. And it’s an honest call to action to anyone in business of any size to look at the way you are doing things and begin to do things differently, not just for the sake of doing things differently, but clearly having created the fastest growing business breakfast in the world and it really is. 200 linked groups across the UK in just over 3 ½ years; 4Networking is both pretty special and different in the space."

So what next?

"The sequel is already underway, I got off my arse, a collection of stories and experiences that will bring together readers of the first book across the globe to see how and what they changed in order to make a positive difference. On the 4Networking side, well we’ve got our Directors over in Australia and in the USA paving the way to create 4Networking International.
Am I mad?
No I’m a genius."

Thanks to Brad for sharing that in his usual forthright manner and do read the book. It's full of practical advice and insights from Brad who, in his own inimitable words, is an Author – Genius – Speaker and can often be found swanning around the UK with a pizza box. No really:

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

For more information, please visit Dave's TNNW Bio.

---

business networking | business networking events | business networking podcast

---

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

DAVE CLARKE: Get off your Arse. New book from leader of UK based 4Networking

IT ALL STARTS WITH US! How to Drive a Stake into the Hearts of Shareholders

It All Starts With Us! with John A. Lee

Recently, I received an email from a reader of an article of mine who thanked me for being an Evangelist of Ethonomics. Evangelist of Ethonomics? I thought, hmmmm. . . is that what I am? Sounds like a 60s kind of guru, a cross between John Maynard Keynes and Aristotle.

According to Wikipedia, Ethonomics goes down as the “provisional name for the discipline of formally mapping and defining the prioritization of values within value systems.”

Okay, it’s about values and when you look at values you make choices; you prioritize. No real help here. I needed to dig deeper for a definition that would characterize what this means to business.

I found the answer was in the February 2009 issue of Fast Company magazine:

“The end of the modern financial system as we know it has cleared the way for an era of ethical economics, or ‘Ethonomics.’ We live in a world that's resource-constrained but ingenuity-rich. So an upstart generation of entrepreneurs--and innovators within the world's biggest companies--are founding businesses that are good for the world as well as the bottom line. They are practicing social change through urban revitalization, sustainable agriculture, green IT, alternative energy and online community-powered investing. Any business that claims to be truly sustainable and innovative should be increasingly efficient with energy and natural resources, transparent and accountable, and good on balance for people and other living things. Ethonomics is a hybrid of technology, design, and social responsibility.”

After reading this, I was feeling pretty good about being an Evangelist for Ethonomics. Ethical economics boils down to making business decisions that are balanced between the quests for profit and being a responsible member of our Earth-community.

Before we have a heyday painting this concept totally “green” and arguing the facts and theories about global warming and environmental stewardship, let’s focus on the part that’s all about doing what’s good, on balance, for people.

Social responsibility means we all have an obligation to do what’s right for society even as we advance our businesses and ourselves. Ethonomics infers this is something we must do.

For most of us still employed, greater than half of our waking hours each day are spent on the job. That is an enormous portion of one’s life. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could insist that those hours were rewarding and fulfilling and not be full of drama and fear. Think of the productivity we could generate if every morning we couldn’t wait to get to work and make a difference. Under the promise of Ethonomics, this might just be possible.

After all, our “recovery” is not going to return us to where we were two years ago but will be a journey to a new place with new values, forged from the bitter reality of financial hardship. If we’re lucky, our destination might be a place where businesses are run to benefit all persons who have a “stake” in its success.

A company forms its culture from the behavior and attitude of its employees. But, most traditional hiring decisions are based in part on how the individual will fit in, instead of on how he or she will contribute. A healthy company celebrates diversity - not only of race, ethnicity, and other preferences – by allowing itself to morph and evolve with the employment of those who bring differences as well as similarities.

Every person in a company is a symbol of the brand promise – what the company stands for. Each person can deliver it or deny it to customers. The true identity of a company is not in the product or service it provides but in the men and women, who proudly design it, make it, and deliver it, and, stand by it.

Who would deny that any company’s greatest asset is its people? A thriving company has to have great people – a micro-society undergoing constant change to be better. Every interaction among the players modifies the company operation if only a little. A healthy company is on a journey, continually in flux, searching for momentum towards its mission while maintaining and adjusting its values.

But, occasionally, there’s a bump in the road that causes a knee jerk reaction. The emotional and financial casualties of the current recession have caused companies to reprioritize their values. Massive layoffs resulted in quick attempts to preserve equity – an ugly rationale to justify the firings.

Somewhere in our recent past, we accepted the premise that success means earning more, spending more, acquiring more, and leveraging more – no matter what the consequences. We cheered on business as though a blood sport. We convinced ourselves it was a good thing when the bottom line increased shareholder equity. Income statements in hand, we shouted, “Take no prisoners!”

We bought into the premise that a good company always shaves expenses at every opportunity to bring more value to its shareholders even if the company’s most important asset – its employees - suffered.

There are only two basic ways to increase net operating income (which ultimately trickles down to shareholder equity on the balance sheet) – increasing revenue or decreasing expenses. It’s a teeter-totter balancing act. One grows a business; the other diminishes it. So when sales are down, you cut expenses. But span of time enters into this calculation as well. You can’t sustain cutting indefinitely; you can’t cut your way to success.

When you cut SG&A (Selling, General, and Administrative) expenses such as personnel, you might be all right short term. But sooner or later, the cuts will start to erode product quality and customer service. Customers start to notice longer delivery times, endless telephone call waits, errors in billing, and the absence of caring, knowledgeable people – where did they go? -- All for a temporary bump in shareholder value.

A shareholder does three things – buys and sells stock, and votes at the annual meeting. It’s very American to buy stock in the hopes of increasing one’s wealth, but it is really only a passive activity to the stock issuer. Investors do not care about the value-systems of companies in which they invest. Their sole objective is financial profit.

Corporate officers are too beholden to Wall Street and the coterie of analysts who bray about the economic woes or fortunes of a company directly to its owners. Of course there is a fiduciary responsibility of officers to act in the best interest of the owners, but “best interest” is open for interpretation. Since the stunning collapse of Enron and others, the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act has essentially punished the many for the sins of the few. Public companies are trapped into worrying more about compliance than about doing great things with great people. Executives cower in fear that they might overpromise when making forward-looking statements and be held personally liable. Executive courage has floundered.

What if the leaders of these companies had hunkered down when the recession started and looked to their employees for innovative ways to stem the bleeding? I’m suggesting that a little less desperation for the bottom line might have saved jobs, lessened the spooking of the American people, prevented some of the subsequent decline in consumer spending, and helped the credit markets rebound quicker. Sadly, the reality is in good times, employees are valuable; in bad times, they’re expendable. Few companies leverage the innovation potential of their employees.

In spite of our American tradition of competitiveness, social responsibility may suggest that no one should win if someone has to lose. Should shareholders of a company’s stock benefit from a lay-off? In the new post-recession economy, we must find a way to do what’s right for society, to give back, even if it means making a little less profit.

There is talk of a “jobless recovery.” One CEO I recently talked with told me it will be difficult to increase hiring when “we were so successful maintaining with the survivors.” I don’t believe businesses can do anything more than just survive without an entrepreneurial plan for growth that absolutely requires putting America back to work. If hiring started increasing tomorrow, it would start media frenzy. Every bit of favorable news about our economy is contagious. It builds consumer confidence and is the tonic to get people spending again. Where there is demand for products and services, you need supply. To get supply, you need workers. To thrive, you need innovation. To innovate, you need motivated workers.

The only qualification to be a shareholder is you must own a share of stock. To be a stakeholder, you must have a stake in the future of your company and what it becomes – that’s both owners and employees alike. Let’s make it clear that we no longer want to just survive. We want to thrive. Let’s look forward to being active stakeholders in this New Era of Ethonomics that’s just visible on the horizon and welcome our new Age of Innovation into the workplace.

Perhaps, as we rebuild, we will put a greater focus on leveraging this stakeholder equity and promoting engagement that can really allow great people to do great things – to soar on the upward spiral. Remember, it all starts with us!


Continued success,

John A. Lee, MA MBA
Laguna Beach, CA

For more information, please visit John's TNNW Bio.

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

IT ALL STARTS WITH US! How to Drive a Stake into the Hearts of Shareholders

BLUE THING #1: TNNW Surveys, Analyses and Findings

Dear Readers:


Here's the way we TNNW folks roll out our surveys. Under the BLUE THING, we first show the results of the previous survey (TNNW SURVEY 2), and then we present your with a new survey for your participation.

LAST SURVEY: TNNW SURVEY 2


Our last survey was a survey about surveys, which as Yossi Feigenson pointed out to me, was not unlike a coffee table book about coffee tables, with a reference to a nifty Seinfeld clip – it’s amazing how much comedic and philosophical material has been derived from what Costanza (one of the principal characters) called, “A show about NOTHING!” Take a moment and enjoy this clip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmo_Kramer#Coffee_Table_Book_about_Coffee_Tables
(Posted by Anand "Andy" Chandarana from the LinkedIn Group, in response to a posting by Yossi about the Survey -- Thank you, Andy!)

The last survey, where the choices were (a) Often; (b) Sometimes and (c) Hardly ever, contained these polling statements:


1. I have used survey results in the course of my business, and in making key business decisions.


• Often 10.34%


• Sometimes 62.07%


• Hardly ever 27.59%


2. I have used survey results to help market products and services to my clients.


• Often 22.41%


• Sometimes 55.17%


• Hardly ever 22.41%


3. I use surveys in order to show my prospects why they should buy my product or services immediately – as promotional literature under the pretext of just keeping them informed.


• Often 17.54%


• Sometimes 45.61%


• Hardly ever 36.84%


4. I conduct ongoing quality surveys in order to constantly obtain customer feedback, monitor quality and to refine and improve my product or service, or just to keep good communications with customers.


• Often 20.69%


• Sometimes 41.38%


• Hardly ever 37.93%


5. I have had professional surveys done in order to obtain market research for developing my product or service to best suit my prospective customers, i.e., the marketplace.


• Often 17.24%


• Sometimes 31.03%


• Hardly ever 51.72%

Those were the results of the survey, which was viewed by 166 individuals, started by 69 individuals and completed by 59 individuals.


Some qualitative conclusions:


1. Respondents naturally tend toward the “sometimes” option in most surveys, especially when it is the middle choice offered.


2. Respondents tend not to rely on statistics for their own decision making, but will use them to promote sales to others. Respondents believe in using statistics more as a selling tool than as a planning tool.


3. Respondents generally do not pre-emptively engage in surveys for market research in order to design or improve their products or services in order to retain and attract additional market share. Respondents do not seem willing to invest in market research as an initial design tool, or for ongoing customer relations.


Some Irony:


Although the public is obsessed with polls and survey results, many businesspeople have not yet made the connection between that particular consumer propensity and their marketing campaigns. Market research companies have not done a stellar job of convincing the commercial sector that they should be incorporated in all product and service design, marketing, and ongoing customer relations.


NEW SURVEY: TNNW SURVEY 3


Chambers of Commerce have been around since long before the invention of the internet. Originally, were geographically localized groups of businesspeople and professionals in various villages and townships, with each member in a different specialty (and non-competitive area) from the other members. They were also engaged in sponsoring sports, education, charitable causes and community growth and preservation.


Times are changing. Our survey question is a very direct one:

“Do you believe that chambers of commerce are providing value to your business?”

Please take a moment and fill out the survey form below. If it does not appear (because of incompatibility with your browser), just click on https://ciof.wufoo.com/forms/chamber-of-commerce-survey-tnnw3/ and the form will pop up instantly, like a toaster pastry.








Thank you for your participation! We will be publishing our results soon, and will post our analysis and findings.



*Subscribe to the free TNNW Newsletter at http://twitlik.com/OK .

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies

Labels and Key Terms: Market Research, TNNW Surveys, Intelligence, Marketing, TNNW Services, Adam J. Kovitz, Douglas Castle, TNNW BUZZWORKS, customer feedback, Blue Things, Statistics, TNNW analytic services, TNNW Survey 3
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

BLUE THING #1: TNNW Surveys, Analyses and Findings

RISK AND REALITY: Enhancing Efficiency and Efficacy in Humanitarian Programs

Risk and Reality

with Franco Oboni

We often confuse efficiency and efficacy.

Efficiency corresponds to an operation with a high result-versus-costs ratio, for example results vs. energy, time, and money.

Efficacy characterizes an action with the power to produce an effect.

Efficiency means doing as good a good a job as possible. Effectiveness means getting a result by doing the right job.

Reportedly neither efficiency nor efficacy rank very high in the Humanitarian Programs industry, one that lives, for the most part, on the good will of international donors with actors harshly competing just like commercial corporations to get the largest share of the donations.

For example, over recent years, the community working towards the aims of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, 2005; The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, 1997) begun to struggle with fundamental questions related to the efficiency of clearance efforts and the need to release land in countries facing strong demographic and social pressures (Jordan Times, 2004). Indeed, much of the land being cleared, using expensive and resource-intensive assets, is generally not found to be contaminated by land mines, unexploded ordnance or by explosive remnants of war (L. Geddes, 2005). Similar examples could be set up for other fields in the Humanitarian Programs arena.

From a decision making point of view it has always been a challenge to distinguish between sometimes conflicting needs in poor countries, possibly devastated by wars and diseases.

Innovative methodologies allow enhancing the performances and deploying assets where they are most needed.

It has been recently and eloquently demonstrated that risk based decision models could significantly improve the situation on both the efficiency and the efficacy front.

As an example, interested parties can see the www.gichd.org (Manual Demining Study, Risk Section and Appendix), as well as:

http://www.gichd.org/fileadmin/pdf/risk_management/workshop-june2007/Presentation-LR-RM-Workshop-FrancoOboni-June2007.pdf

Proper decision making techniques in fields as diverse as Humanitarian Demining or Heavy Industry, or small to medium entreprises allow to select the right job first and to do a better job in enhancing the sustainability of corporations, communities and even individuals.

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

RISK AND REALITY: Enhancing Efficiency and Efficacy in Humanitarian Programs

BLUE THING #9: This Week's Top Buzzed Items and Terms

BLUE THING #9: This Week's Top Buzzed Items and Terms

Click on: http://TheNationalNewspickerPage.blogspot.com

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

BLUE THING #9: This Week's Top Buzzed Items and Terms

BLUE THING #8: Great Websites and Blogs to Explore

BLUE THING #8: Great Websites and Blogs to Explore

http://marvel.com
http://www.swapaskill.com
http://www.superseventies.com/singles.html
http://techdirt.com/articles/20091008/2344176470.shtml
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech
http://www.drmcninja.com
http://bx.businessweek.com/google-wave
http://www.chris.com/ascii
http://www.the-cloak.com/anonymous-surfing-home.html
http://www.gliffy.com
http://www.itworld.com/internet/80445/wikileaks-plans-make-web-a-leakier-place
http://TheGlobalFuturist.blogspot.com

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

BLUE THING #8: Great Websites and Blogs to Explore

BLUE THING #7: Most Memorable Quote of the Week

BLUE THING #7: Most Memorable Quote of the Week

Brought to you by The National Networker and QuoteActions.

"Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive."

- American Philosopher & Writer, Elbert Hubbard

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

BLUE THING #7: Most Memorable Quote of the Week

BLUE THING #6: Featured Deal of the Week

BLUE THING #6: Featured Deal of the Week

Coming Soon!

You can submit your company’s greatest corporate coupe or conquest for TNNW’s consideration by writing to info@TheNationalNetworker.com. Again, sadly we are not permitted to accept graft or gifts, so the deal which you present to us should be genuinely worthy of a NEWS RELEASE.




Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

BLUE THING #6: Featured Deal of the Week

BLUE THING #5: Featured Company of the Week

BLUE THING #5: Featured Company of the Week

Coming Soon!

You can submit your company (or another company which you have the courage to admit is superior to yours) for TNNW’s consideration by writing to info@TheNationalNetworker.com. Sadly, we are not permitted to accept graft or gifts, so we’ll need to hear about the actual merit of your suggested Company.

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

BLUE THING #5: Featured Company of the Week

BLUE THING #4: This Week's Top News Stories

BLUE THING #4: This Week's Top News Stories

Click on: http://TheNationalNewspickerPage.blogspot.com

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

BLUE THING #4: This Week's Top News Stories

BLUE THING #3: Amazing New Facts and Statistics

BLUE THING #3: Amazing New Facts and Statistics

A compilation of utterly useless information brought to you by AmazingFacts.com, Braintenance and THE NATIONAL NEWSPICKER™.

Following is a veritable cesspool of trivial items to use in pick-up lines in bars, to fill awkward silences in credit committee meetings, and to forward (via email) to the spam filters of your many friends. Here goes:

• A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for approximately sixty-nine years.
  
• Eating chocolate three times a month helps people live longer as opposed to people who overeat chocolate or do not eat chocolate at all.
  
• People of Ancient China believed that swinging your arms could cure a headache.
  
• A little under one quarter of the people in the world are vegetarians.
  
• An average adult produces about half a litre of flatulent gas per day, resulting in an average of about fourteen occurrences of flatulence a day.
  
• 1 out of every 4 kids in the USA is overweight.
  
• People still cut the cheese shortly after death.
  
• Only one out of every three people wash their hands when leaving a public bathroom.
  
• Some people drink the urine of pregnant women to build up their immune system.
  
• A person infected with the SARS virus, has a 95-98% chance of recovery.
  
• The eight most popular foods to cause food allergies are: milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, soy, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish.
  

Click on: http://TheNationalNewspickerPage.blogspot.com

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

BLUE THING #3: Amazing New Facts and Statistics

BLUE THING #2: TNNW Product/Service of the Week

Other newsletters would give you only ONE Product/Service of the Week. Some might extend themselves a bit to give you TWO. However, here at The National Networker, we offer you THREE. For those of you who are arithmophiles (a lingovation), this is 300% of what the competition offers. As Andy (“Google Me”) Greider would say – “Underpromise and Overdeliver”.

Here they are:

NEWS RELEASES: The most cost-effective way of immediately reaching a giant audience. Click on http://tnnw1.blogspot.com.

THE NATIONAL NEWSPICKER: Get this gadget now. Get the jump on everything you need to know every day – in 20 minutes. You can pick your friends. You can pick your news. At TNNW, we have done the unthinkable. Click on http://TheNationalNewspickerPage.blogspot.com.

BRUTE FORCE REQUEST: This service is the ultimate BUZZWORKS machine. It becomes available on October 20^th. Learn more – Read the Update! This service can energize your brand, internet presence, website traffic, conversion rate and sales.















Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

BLUE THING #2: TNNW Product/Service of the Week

A NOTE FROM THE CHAIRMAN: TNNW Chairman to Speak at Venture/Business Plan Competition

I am always fascinated at the way certain relationships, events and opportunities come about via networking. About a year ago I "met" Kelly O'Brien Gavin of The Greater Susquehanna Keystone Innovation Zone via Plaxo, where she became a fan and subscriber to TNNW. Recently, Kelly asked me to speak at the kick-off dinner for their first annual Venture Plan/Business Plan Competition which is being done in partnership with several Universities that serve Central and Northeast Pennsylvania. The event will be held October 27th at Susquehanna University and I couldn't me more excited as an entrepreneur to present. More information will follow.

This week also marked a milestone for a special relationship of mine (again through networking). This week I got to celebrate my business partner and blood-brother-in-arms, Douglas Castle's wedding at Xavier's on the Hudson. A great time was had by all and many happy returns to Douglas and his bride, Ming.



Lastly (but not leastly - is that a word?), at TNNW we strive to continuously improve the quality of writers, subjects and articles we bring you. This week we are proud to welcome Beth Barany to our team. Beth is a writer, author in and works with others who wish to get published. In that vein, we present Beth's new column Get Published Now. WELCOME BETH!!!

As always, I look forward to Networking with you,

Adam

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies
Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

A NOTE FROM THE CHAIRMAN: TNNW Chairman to Speak at Venture/Business Plan Competition