In previous blogs, I’ve been discussing the “Ps” in podcasting. The first “P” was the “Popularity” of podcasting, The second “P” was the “Pros” for companies to podcast. The third “P” of the peas in a pod metaphor I’m hacking to death here is the “Possibilities” for business podcasts. It isn’t exactly enough for a meal yet, but hey, I’m getting there.

You can blog about anything or nothing, and many people do. The same is true for podcasting. But if you want people to actually listen to your podcasts, you need to make sure they provide useful information or are entertaining to your audience – preferably both. That’s not always possible, of course. Podcasting your earnings reports isn’t going get too many yuks from the financial community (at least we hope not), but they’ll find them useful.

One way to come up with podcasting ideas is to analyze all the types of communications you use inside your company and with your customers. Some of these may be suitable for podcasting, or even be more effectively delivered as podcasts. This exercise may also generate some completely new ideas for communication that are uniquely suited for podcasting. Here are some possibilities to get you thinking:

Corporate:

• Financial updates such as quarterly earnings reports
• Business news such as company announcements, industry news and trends
• Internal company announcements, newsletters
• Management fireside chats

Sales and Marketing:

• Product news, such as new features and release schedules
• Product promotions and discounts
• Account management status and updates for customers and clients
• Interviews with industry experts
• Whitepapers
• Research paper summaries

Human Resoures:

• HR training courses
• HR initiative announcements
• Policies and procedures
• Management tips and best practices
• Employee commentaries

Customer Support:

• Product usage tips and best practices
• Problem reports, status and workarounds
• Product training

Another way to come up with business podcasting ideas is to go to iTunes and listen to some business podcasts. And talk to other companies to find out what they’re podcasting. You’ll have a bowlful of possibilities before you know it.

Are you doing business podcasting? I’d love to hear what you’re podcasting and how it’s going.

Technorati Tags: B2B, Customer Service, Human Resource, Marketing, Podcasting, Podcasts, Public Relations, Sales, Social Media

It probably wasn’t appropriate for me to do this, but I weaseled my way into ReadyTalk’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament office pool. After all, I don’t actually work for ReadyTalk, so I might be raising some hackles by horning in on their party. Plus, I run the risk of getting into trouble if the company gets busted for running an office pool.* But I was desperate – March Madness is the only thing that gives my life meaning this time of year.

In my opinion, office pools say a lot about a company. None of the companies where I’ve worked ever had office pools. I don’t work for any of those companies anymore. Coincidence? I think not.

On the other hand, I used to work for myself in an office next to a small insurance agency. They have an NCAA tournament pool every year and an open invitation to join. They bring a TV into the office to show the games throughout the tournament, and anyone can drop by to watch them. I joined their pool several years. The thing I noticed is that the same people work in the office year after year. It might not be just because of the annual NCAA pool, but I think it’s indicative of a fun-loving culture that retains employees and most likely, customers as well.

So it says a lot about ReadyTalk that they have an NCAA tournament pool going with a very high participation rate including the CEO himself, here just a couple of weeks before a big new product release. I don’t know if they have a TV in the office, but you can bet management isn’t blocking the streaming video. With the combined rush of a product release and NCAA tournament going on at the same time, ReadyTalk will be a fun place to be for the next few weeks.

I’ll admit, I feel a little guilty being in their pool. If I win, maybe I’ll use the money to fly out to Denver to visit ReadyTalk and get to know some of the people I gypped out of the winnings.

* I checked this out. Fortunately, Colorado and California (where I live) both allow social gambling. So no pick-up games in prison for me.

Technorati Tags: NCAA Basketball, March Madness, Employees, Human Resources, Recreation

ReadyTalk won the 2007 Colorado Biz Magazine Best Place to Work contest for small to medium sized companies.

For the second year, ColoradoBiz has joined with the Colorado State Council of the Society of Human Resource Management and Jobing.com, an online employment advertising service, to produce a list of the best companies to work for in the state.

You can read the entire article here. I have been working at ReadyTalk for nearly three years now and it has been a pleasure the whole time. I will leave you with a quote from our CEO Dan King taken from the article which I think sums up our success nicely.

“It’s important for us to have a good understanding of the culture we want and hire around it and have continuity over time.”

Technorati Tags: Coloradobiz, ReadyTalk, Best Places To Work, COSHRM

ReadyTalk Web Seminar Series in July

July is a very exciting month for the ReadyTalk Web Seminar series which features several speakers from a variety of disciplines.

July 10th – 21st Century Sales: Time Management for Sales Professionals
Townsend Wardlaw, Three Value Logic Sales Institute
In the second of our “21st Century Sales” series, Three Value Logic Sales Institute (3VLSI) presents “Time Management for Sales Professionals” to address the reality that today’s successful sales professional must coordinate a superhuman volume of activity. Participants in this web seminar will learn why multitasking decreases effectiveness and task-prioritization represents an inefficient method for organizing your work.

July 12th – Broadcast or Podcast:Creating Your Own Business Channel with Podcasting
Paul Barron, NetWorld Alliance
In this web seminar we will discuss the dos and don’ts of why and how you should create your own business channel through the use of podcasting.

• Learn when and why to podcast
• How to reach your perfect demographic
• What to do once you have a podcast
• How to get your podcast noticed

July 18th – Evaluating Your Marketing Mix: Marketing Analytics 101
Michael Lenzini and John Burnett, Scenario d
This Web Seminar is for marketing managers working at small to mid-sized companies who want a better understanding of the appropriate marketing metrics to employ in strategically assessing the various marketing tools that comprise their marketing mix. This web seminar will consider these tools both proactively and reactively.

July 24th – How to Develop an Investment-Grade Marketing Plan, Part II
Michael Lenzini, Scenario d
Michael Lenzini, CEO of Scenario d, LLC, will cover the top 10 ways you can market and promote your product or service online. Following the framework set forth by Dr. Burnett last month in Part I, Mr. Lenzini will expand on the concept of Framing Dimensions and how to get the right message to the right customer at the right time.

July 26th – Creating a Great Place to Work: Lessons Learned from the 2007 “50 Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America”
Hal Adler, Great Place to Work Institute
Join Hal Adler, President of Great Place to Work® Institute, to understand the essential ingredients and framework for creating a great place to work and what makes this year’s “50 Best Small & Medium Companies” so great.
Mr. Adler’s presentation will:

• Provide examples of workplace practices at “best companies to work for.”
• Examine the business case for building and sustaining a great workplace.
• Suggest everyday strategies for building a strong foundation of trust between managers and employees.
• Offer insight into how the Great Place to Work® Institute selects their annual “Best Companies” lists — including the “50 Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America”, recognizing companies with between 50-999 employees, and FORTUNE’s 100 Best Companies to Work For®, recognizing companies with more than 1,000 employees.
• Share what companies gain from participating in the survey and selection process.

If you wish to get updates about the ReadyTalk Web Seminar series automatically, you can subscribe to our feed here.

Technorati Tags: 3VL, Great Places to Work Institute, NetWorld Alliance, Scenario d, Web Seminar, ReadyTalk

During the dot com boom, many companies were instituting policies to entice employees to stay and attract new talent. Concepts such as flex time were implemented, casual dress became the norm and employees became expert foosball players. A large emphasis was placed on keeping employees happy and, the logic went, more creative and productive. When the bubble burst, many of these policies were allowed to stick around (as it’s nearly impossible to take a benefit away from people without huge repercussions); however, few companies put any resources into furthering any of these programs.

I’ve heard estimates that each new hire (for example, engineering students coming straight from college) cost a company > $200,000 in their first year.
This number includes first year salary and benefits, work-time lost by other employees to get the new employee up-to-speed, technical and non-technical training, and other expenses such as setting up benefits and the cost of recruiting that employee. If a company’s philosophy is to treat employees as commodities, it should at least consider how much each employee is really worth and consider how much it costs to implement fewer restrictive rules and exercise greater trust in employees.

Here at ReadyTalk, the employees come first. Like Mike mentioned in a previous post, hiring the right individuals is very important to the company. Our dogs come to work with us, we have a kitchen full of community food (and it’s not there to encourage us to work long hours), the ping pong table gets a fair amount of use and it’s a rare moment when someone is unhappy to be here. There are few rules and a great deal of trust. It’s impossible to tell the workspace of our CEO apart from the workspace of, say, a project manager. The list is long (it continues to grow) and it, indirectly, is another contributor to the success of our company. Have you noticed the difference in attitudes of employees who work in places where there is great distrust in management versus a place like ReadyTalk?