tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3795987672616572792024-02-20T04:43:10.644-08:00thebossongroupThe Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-51928247534853024682014-02-02T14:57:00.000-08:002014-02-02T15:05:00.498-08:00Our Ben Bernanke Connection<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">It looks like the end of an era.
I'm not sure how to sum up this end or to what end this end is intended. What I
do know is that our little company was once again in the thick of things when
history was taking place. Whether we are talking about our evolutionary
preemptive analytics (nTelegenz®); custom email programming with our
exclusive, instant </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">notification</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> email system, AlphaBytes; live television to shape industry perception for our
clients; the first interactive cartoon, Hex Decimal; or our Trademarked seamless
home to work environments, Tethered Communities™, Frank Bosson and The
Bosson Group (or it's original members) have been in the business of working on
programs, companies and topics that have been at the crux of industry and </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">Internet</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> as it's most revolutionary events unfolded. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Unlike Al
Gore we do not claim any great discoveries or even feel that we were all
so revolutionary. At the time, we thought we were following trends
and only time would tell us that we were in fact setting them. Whether it was
the advice we gave a client and prospective VC when they looked at FutureLink
of the ASP fame in 1999 as a brilliant investment and we were the only
dissenting voice in the room saying "nothing proves this company is
solvent". Fast forward a year to find in 2000 that they in fact, were not. Or in 2001 when a
clients insisted on taking our custom built instant notification email
AlphaBytes (then known as Encore) and selling it as part of a massive OS for
Fortune Level companies. We screamed to anyone who would listen that no Fortune
company would bet a half million dollars on an OS that was unproven and untested
and that it would make more sense to sell the product of Encore as a sales tool
(Constant Contact any one?) and part of a greater sales strategy. A supposition we proved profitable when we acted as agents for Dynaco Door growing
their distributor base in America from a couple dozen to over 100
by setting appointments for them using our email tool and the first
version of our professional level, seamless home to work environments Tethered
Communties™. This was 2003 and the first time we began work designing and developing
websites as more than a design feature for companies online - but as business
destination. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">By 2008
with nearly our full suite of exclusive products in hand and
a history of some of the most amazing firsts in Internet
history: Live Television show - "The CyberLink Show" mixing
interviews with client companies and breaks featuring our own interactive,
full length feature cartoon, Hex Decimal; a full length feature
Community Television show "Children and Internet Predators" shot in
2001 when we interviewed the FBI's first agent directed solely to the
investigation of Child Predators online; the official formation of Tethered </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">Communities</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">™, or the successful and profitable launch of instant notification emails using AlphaBytes in 2003, the same year we began successfully and profitably making websites. By the end of 2008 we had almost a decade of experience on business and the Internet and we were just getting started.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Because then came the great mortgage debacle of 2008 - and yes, we were in the thick of that as well. Seems we have a penchant for being in the hottest bed at the most historic moments. Now don;t let anyone kid you there are thousands of companies that were in these places at the same time hostory was unfolding for all these events- just not many that were in all these places when they were hot as they were hot and are still </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">executing</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> programming today. And so today as Ben Bernanke steps down it is with fond memories that we share this last little TBG legend and the history we've seen.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Because believe it or
not, I was there...working for a client in the mortgage banking industry just
before the great fall of '08. Oh, I have lots of stories to tell: How we used
our own analytics program nTelegenz®, to project the length of the foreboding
mortgage crash of '08 (back then predicting it would be 2013 before the country
would emerge - we were wrong it did not) - but remember we were battling a
popular opinion that saw the problem not lasting more than a year - two, tops!
How a program we helped breathe into life would become a three day must attend destination for every top banker in mortgage industry from 2004 through 2008. And for many the last time people like the famous Nobel Laureate
Robert Shiller; Director of OFHEO James Lockhart; Chief Economist of Freddie Mac,
Frank Nothaft; CoFounder of Moody's, Mark Zandi; and Senior Business Manager of
Fannie Mae, Robert Murphy would speak publicly of and before the impending doom that would lead to Mr. Bernake's appearance before Congress and his
"tame the fed" hearings of July '08. One more company TBG helped climb out of its own deep hole with little more than wits, the cooperation and teamwork of some genuinely inspirational and brilliant people (mad props to Tina, David, Michael et al) and a phone. One more time we would be involved at the very moment that history and industry would collide. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Since 1997 I have
been in on some of the most important topics to shape business and the
Internet as we know it today. Today with a full suite of tools from web design to analytics; from email to work from sales; from Social Media to Mobile optimization we are hard at work for our clients building the next generation of TBG history. Had I known then what I know
now...my, my, my.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-90081089076142763672013-07-20T17:16:00.001-07:002013-07-20T17:16:37.107-07:00THANKS FOR THE PRESS!<div style="border-bottom: solid #4F81BD 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4.0pt 0in;">
<h2>
“Wordify” </h2>
<div class="MsoTitle">
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Recently we got some press for a piece we did on how small
businesses can distinguish themselves to both current and prospective buyers by
creating words or phrases that are “industry concentric”. By that I mean that
you can, by “coining” certain words or phrases that better define aspects of your
business in concert with the industry you serve, separate yourself from your competitors. Special words or terms
referring to products or services improved by your company and benefiting your
clients. One client of ours coined “Poolability”
– guess what industry they serve? Pools and Spas – yup… <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our <b>“Visuality”</b> is a perfect example of <i style="background-color: yellow;">wordifying</i> your company. Building on the premise that your online
appearance is certifiably one of the most important aspects of your relationship
with prospective business (which should be the main thrust of your online
presence), we created a process which blends analysis, interpretation, design
and structure to tell your story through an amalgamation of words, actions and graphical composition. In other
words to create a compelling and amazingly visual narrative of your company on
and through your website, mobile presence, marketing, email, presentations and Social Media; using video, pictures and/or
animation, combined with powerfully descriptive testimonials, company story-line
or Wordbytes®* (resume information specific to your company – ex. “We served over
2,000 clients in five years and increased overall ROI by 35%) with a “Call to
Action”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="border-bottom: solid #4F81BD 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4.0pt 0in;">
<h2>
Why me? Why you? Why now?</h2>
<div class="MsoTitle">
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 3-Whys as a web strategy protocol is also our own
creation. By analyzing your market, competitors, buyers end-game mentality,
industry verticals, Social Media interfaces, SEO and Applifying®** a company can, by
designing advanced and sophisticated Mobile Strategies,build complex and highly functional web
environments or “Digital Landscapes” that are focused on answering these three
(3) questions no matter where, how or why your prospective buyer hits your
online interface.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The idea is to be in all the places online with complimentary
online efforts that create harmony in your message, consistency in branding
integrated into specific functions, interactivity and intuitiveness for the
threefold purpose of: selling the prospect, gathering information for immediate
contact, gathering information to feed the prospect into the Social Media until
they are closer to the buying decision. The protocol actually determines a preemptive and pre-determined place
in the business cycle that is "observes" certain behaviors, actions,
questions etc., demonstrated by the prospective buyer either through an online
function (Website, Web Strategy, Genesis Marketing Event etc.) or by responding
to our highly graphical, totally interactive, permission granted, instant notification
email system; AlphaBytes®.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The “Digital Landscapes” are designed to become most
responsive starting with the prospective buyer at the end-game buying point,
then the company checking you out for a near future project and finally the
client tripping over you through Google. This is a 3-step down process
answering the 3 principle questions that clients ask when they first engage any
prospective vendor online; Why me? Why you? Why now?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By blending all three answers into every component (Banners,
Site Keys, Navigation, Social Media, email, marketing pieces etc.) of every web
or Internet related element we will always have the best opportunity to be considered
a legitimate selection in the buying process. To demonstrate how well this works our company
maintains an 80% closing ratio using our <a href="http://www.the3whys.com/#/free-analysis/">Free “Everything Online” Analysis </a>when
used in our sales process and in conjunction with our “<a href="http://www.the3whys.com/#/digital-handshake/">Digital Handshake</a>”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="border-bottom: solid #4F81BD 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4.0pt 0in;">
<h2>
Free “Everything Online” Analysis</h2>
<div class="MsoTitle">
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course we offer prospective clients a way to get to know
us better by offering a one-of-a-kind free analysis of virtually everything
they do, touch, compete with and sell to online. The <a href="http://www.the3whys.com/#/free-analysis/">Free “Everything Online” Analysis</a> is totally thorough stacking the client up against industry competitors,
verticals, Social Media formats for buyers and competitors, buyer’s sites,
mobile and web strategies and more. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The analysis is delivered using state-of-the-art
presentation vehicles through Webex rooms and where we average an 80% close ratio for
prospects taking the analysis. And although the actual costs for the analysis
exceed $400.00, with this extraordinary closing ratio we are able to amortize
the cost throughout the life of the programs. Plus all the information we
gather is target specific and useful in developing the client’s “<a href="http://www.the3whys.com/#/digital-handshake/">Digital Handshake</a>”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="border-bottom: solid #4F81BD 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4.0pt 0in;">
<h2>
Our Own Language</h2>
<div class="MsoTitle">
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the least decade we have created and sustained a
language of our own. Now of course these are words, concepts and actions that
are truly known mostly to our clients and the people they talk with about our
business approach. Nonetheless, these words are firmly ensconced into our daily
SOP (standard operating procedure) and include: Wordbytes® APPLIFY® , H.I.T
Programming®, Tethered Communities™, AlphaBytes®, nTelegenz®, Genesis Marketing
Events® and Telefluence. And all of these are part of our daily language with
our clients and prospective clients. These revolutionary and evolutionary
programs and events from complex three day conferences to instant notification
emails that assist in selling buyers at their buying apex form the core of what
we offer and why what we do is different than others. Whether cartoons, video,
movies, television or radio these are the programs and processes that make up
our arsenal define the difference we bring to our clients efforts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="border-bottom: solid #4F81BD 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4.0pt 0in;">
<h2>
Tethered Communities™</h2>
<div class="MsoTitle">
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the words and concepts we are most proud of is our
Trademarked Tethered Communities™ (Reg. # 4,172,861 Registered July 10, 2012).
This seamless home to work environment combines elements of analysis,
interpretation, training, hardware, web based and real-time software; uniquely
designed for each client for the purpose of sales or appointment setting using
online meeting rooms (Webex), sophisticated presentations and at-home,
professional, C-Level Telesales people.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As our small family business continues to grow we will continue
to salt our lexicon into the day to day operations of all our projects with our
new friends. If you want more information on how we can assist you in creating
and sustaining a strong online presence backed up by smartly engineered Social
Media programs, Mobile Strategies and even seamless home to work telesales
email us at <a href="mailto:free@3-yz.com">free@3-yz.com</a> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="border-bottom: solid #4F81BD 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 4.0pt 0in;">
<h2>
Press Release “Let Me Wordify You ”</h2>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, we give a big shout out to the nearly 150 magazines,
newspapers and online news agencies that deemed <b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Let Me “Wordify” You”</span></b>
worthy of their distinguished name. Some of the most significant include:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/let-wordify-152500803.html;_ylt=AlwKtSP9HuVOxhKk04Ag_Fj5uYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTQ4Mmhoc2pjBG1pdANUb3AgU3RvcnkgTGlzdCAgTm8gQ29sbGVjdGlvbgRwa2cDMGVmZThkZTItYTlmNC0zNzNiLThjOGMtNjUxYWU0OTg4N2JiBHBvcwMxMARzZWMDdG9wX3N0b3J5BHZlcgM1M2IzNGIyMC1lZmJlLTExZTItYmJmNy00MDQ2ZjMyZTc3YTU-;_ylg=X3oDMTJpb3BuOGphBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDZTQzNjg2OGUtNjQ4Ny0zNTc5LWJkYjItNmMxMDdiMDFhYmRiBHBzdGNhdAMEcHQDc2VjdGlvbnM-;_ylv=3"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><img border="0" height="39" src="file:///C:/Users/Frank/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.png" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_7" width="225" /><!--[endif]--></span></a>With over 51 Million
Visitors Daily <b>Yahoo Finance</b></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<img border="0" height="66" src="file:///C:/Users/Frank/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.png" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_8" width="204" /><!--[endif]-->With over Half Million Visitors
Daily Boston.com</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/prnewswire/press_releases/Georgia/2013/07/18/MN49401?ana=prnews"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><img border="0" height="66" src="file:///C:/Users/Frank/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image003.png" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_9" width="218" /><!--[endif]--></span></a>Nearly Half of Million
Visitors Daily Silicon Business Journal</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/prnewswire/press_releases/Georgia/2013/07/18/MN49401?ana=prnews"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><img border="0" height="67" src="file:///C:/Users/Frank/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image004.png" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_11" width="222" /><!--[endif]--></span></a>350,000 Plus Daily San Francisco Business Times</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/prnewswire/press_releases/Georgia/2013/07/18/MN49401?ana=prnews"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><img border="0" height="47" src="file:///C:/Users/Frank/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image005.png" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_12" width="201" /><!--[endif]--></span></a> NYC - Over Half Million Visitors Daily NYC Business Journal</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<img border="0" height="69" src="file:///C:/Users/Frank/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image006.png" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_13" width="219" /><!--[endif]-->With over 400,000 Visitors Daily Los Angeles Business </h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<img border="0" height="42" src="file:///C:/Users/Frank/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image007.png" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_14" width="217" /><!--[endif]-->With nearly Quarter Million
Readers Austin Statesman</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With over 100,000,000 (one hundred million) readers and
viewers from the United States, Canada and Great Britain using online
publications, blogs, newspapers, magazines, television and radio, I think we finally and officially put
The Bosson Group and 3-YZ on the map.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
Thanks from all of us here at TBG/3-YZ</h3>
<div>
For more information contact us at:</div>
<div>
<span style="color: blue;">free@3-yz.com</span> </div>
<div>
Visit us online at</div>
<div>
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.the3whys.com/#/">www.the3whys.com</a></span> and <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.thebossongroup.com/">www.thebossongroup.com</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*A Wordbyte® is a relevant, real-world piece of information
on your company’s success.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">**Applify® is the process of creating an integrated Mobile
strategy which can include mobile websites, applications, mobile interfaces
(Twitter, Facebook etc.) and more.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-11907120241145841362013-06-12T22:44:00.000-07:002013-06-12T22:44:34.788-07:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Mumbai Shuffle<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I couldn't believe it but it was true. Recently our company
had upgraded our computer system and in doing so we needed to upgrade our
online security software. We shut down
everything on Friday night and earlier than expected we were up and running by
Sunday morning. We had the local IT guys do all the company stuff and everything
went well even when we decided on a new security software for the business. Monday
rolled around and we had a few glitches which hampered the system and
inconvenienced a few clients; something you never want to happen but on occasion
is bound too. By Monday evening we had
worked out all the bugs from the company perspective and I finally felt we had
a grip on the whole thing. Boy was I wrong.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The last thing on my to-do list was to update my personal
computer. I realized that it too needed new security software. The company
software was a bit pricey and since I had such good fortune with my last
product, Avast, I felt no reason to change.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">SPOILER ALERT – AVAST HAS SOLD ITS
SOUL<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, Monday morning I decided to simply log into Avast and
update my license which I assumed was still good. I was relieved to see that
they had “Live” Chat on their website. Since we installed that into our website
it has improved customer service immensely. This is especially true with a
small business like ours where we need to get out in front of any customer
problem. We boast a 100% satisfaction policy 100% of the time with 100% of our
clients. We don’t say we won’t make mistakes or that things will not go wrong
on the odd occasion, it is technology after all. Sometimes even our best
intentions are thwarted by techno-beastie ills that we could never anticipate.
Our guarantee is that nothing we control will be left unattended and we will
deliver on every promise we make. It doesn't matter if it’s in writing or you
just thought you heard us say it, if it’s in our wheelhouse and your signed up
for it, it’s our job to make sure it functions the way we told you it would. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Again, in a little company it sometimes looks a lot like the
“cobbler’s children”…you know the cobbler is so busy his kids have no shoes?
Yeah, well that’s the way it goes sometimes – like it or not. One of our most
difficult deliveries is satisfaction with our Social Media Engineering. And if you are on a Social Media program with
us then you know that lots and lots of hours have gone in to getting this
service right. We are only now beginning to shine the flashlight at our own
Social Media channel to update our principle venues and to take advantage of
our own well-worn online positions. But that’s just an add-on frustration to
this story so we’ll skip that for now.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back to the day – Monday morning and we click on the
computers and we are humming, the only computer left is my personal computer
and I simply need to get to Avast and update my license. Sounds simple enough doesn't
it?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So back to the “Live Chat” which is directly on and in the
principle Avast.com website. Like I said, having installed live chat on our own
site has made a huge difference in how quickly we learn about problems and get
ahead of the issues. So I eagerly clicked on Avast’s Live Chat…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7:15 AM PST (Pacific Standard Time)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ronnie (Avast agent?): Good morning how can I help?<br />
Me: Good morning Ronnie – before we begin, where are you guys located?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><u><br /></u></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><u>Note: We have a
mandatory rule with our company – we only do business with American companies.
We don’t spend a lot of money but whatever we do spend we spend in America –period!<o:p></o:p></u></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ronnie: Branford Connecticut<br />
Me: Wow…I was raised in East Haven<br />
Ronnie: Really?<br />
Me: Yeah –what a coincidence. I had no idea Avast was in little ole Branford.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Note: East Haven and
Branford have been twin cities since the late fifties. The towns literally grew
up together. I even lived in a quaint section of Branford called Indian Neck as
a really young man. So I was pleased to be talking not only to an American
company but a former neighbor (we are a California company located close to San
Francisco smack dap in the middle of the largest wine growing area in the whole
state). But who doesn't have some fond memories of their childhood town<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ronnie: How can I
help you?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Note: Okay no small
talk wants to get to business. Not our style we encourage our reps to roll with
the client’s conversation. But if their policy is “all business”, I can respect
that. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Me: Okay, I want to
update my Avast license and get it up on this new computer – what should I do?<br />
Ronnie: I am definitely going to help you with that problem this morning<br />
Me: Well…okay…but it’s not a problem is it? I just want to update my Avast<br />
Ronnie: Okay I just need to take a look at your computer. Do you mind if I take
control and see what you have?<br />
Me: I just want to update my Avast<br />
Ronnie And that’s going to be taken care of this morning, I guarantee it<br />
Me: Yeah, well that’s fine and all but I just need Avast<br />
Ronnie: I am definitely going to help you do that but I do need to look at your
computer so can I take control<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Note: I am now
looking at my watch and it is going on 7:30 already about 15 minutes in and I
do need the software. He is the one for getting straight to business so, if
this is what he needs, I guess it’s okay with me. After all, I’m talking with
Avast, right? They wouldn't do anything dishonest, would they?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Me: How long is this going to take?<br />
Ronnie: No more than 15 minutes<br />
Me: Okay I guess…what do you need me to do?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Note: Ten minutes
later after a few Ronnie blunders getting connected we are finally tethered and
he takes control. Zip, zap, zoom – bippity boppity boom and a half an hour
later he is circling all these “Corrupted Files” – “Bad Registry Files” and the
likes.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ronnie: Well, before we can do anything I need to clean up
your computer. You have some serious issues here.<br />
Me: Yeah, well I have an IT guy so I’ll have him take care of it.<br />
Ronnie: Well, if you want Avast this morning I have to clean this up and there
is no charge<br />
Me: No charge? How long will this take?<br />
Ronnie: About 30 minutes but I have to tell you that this is pretty bad. I
would recommend taking care of these problems right now. I will remove all
these bad registry files, the corrupted files and any viruses I find<br />
Me: I have a virus?<br />
Ronnie: Yes, sir<br />
Me: Okay let’s take care of this – but then you’ll install the Avast.<br />
Ronnie: Yes, sir right after.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Note: I should have
known something was wrong. Hadn't he up front told me about “taking care of my
problem?” How could he have known there was such a grave issue with my
computer? But like any other dupe, the
sound of my computer having a virus got my attention. And again this is Avast
they wouldn't lie to me, would they? Plus it is being done for free. Boy am I a
sucker or what?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I glance down at my watch it is now 8:45 – we've been on the
phone for an hour and fifteen minutes and I still don’t have Avast and now I’m
looking at another 30 minutes to clean up my severely infected computer in
order to get my Avast .<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The room goes silent as Ronnie works feverishly to remove
all the junk – taking great pains to circle in red all the problems, bad files
and dangerous keys. I don’t remember another
word being spoken in the room until an hour and a half later.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then Ronnie comes back on and begins to tell me all the
wonderful things he has done and all that they can do for me in the future. Was
Avast trying to sell me support? A bunch a bullsh*t later and Ronnie gets down
to the end game. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
$170 bucks and he’ll put the protection on and provide me with
a full year of customer support and technical support for any of my software
issues.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By now I am very aware of what’s going on but I have a
pretty sticky situation. This dude has control of my computer and he’s holding
me hostage for $170 dollars. I quickly tell him of course I’ll take this
marvelous deal which he must confirm with his supervisor. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Here comes Jeetu<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jeetu: I just want to make sure you are happy with
everything we did this morning.<br />
Me: Jeetu, I lived in the Indian Neck area of Branford have you been out there?
Where are your offices in Branford?<br />
Jeetu: Sir, that’s just where are offices are - we are not there<br />
Me Where are you Jeetu (like I didn't know)<br />
Jeetu: Mumbai, India<br />
Me: No fooling with such an American sounding name I’m shocked<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Note: I politely ask
to be disconnected – but kept the chat alive. I gathered all the information I
could realizing now that they were just an India scam for online support that
somehow was allowed to roam free and snatch it’s victims from the Avast site.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>It is now 10:30 in
the morning. I have been on the phone with these knuckleheads for three hours
and when I ask where my Avast is Ronnie interrupts Jeetu and says we already
put your virus protection on. He tells me it’s the Microsoft Security. I
quickly point out that the Microsoft Security was already on my computer when “Ronnie”
took it over. My tech guys had put it there when they transferred my data and
that’s why I called in to get Avast. And if this Microsoft Security was so good
how did all these bad files slip passed it?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jeetu: That’s definitely a problem we can help you with this
morning<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Note: Where have I
heard that before?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Me: Probably another 30 minutes, huh?<br />
Jeetu: Oh not we can do this in about 15 minutes and it will only cost you 79
more dollars<br />
Me: So what did I just pay for?<br />
Ronnie (tag teaming me): One year of technical support on all of your software<br />
Me: Listen carefully…I don’t want you to do anything else. I want you to
disconnect from this conversation. I am going to call your home office in
Branford and get this straightened out.<br />
Jeetu: Sir, we didn’t want to upset you, after all we fixed your computer for
no charge!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Note: By now I had
texted my IT guy and he told me that there were no issues with my computer.
They had run a diagnostic, cleaned it up and installed the Microsoft Security. In
fact there were no bad files or registry errors or viruses and they had checked
less than 24 hours ago.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I got off the phone as quickly as I could. My next call went
right to Branford where I spoke to Rita who worked for Lester Industries and I
was told I had been talking to GuruAid. She assured me my card would not be
charged and she was going to fix the problem in Mumbai. Whatever – at least she
knew where Indian Neck was.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is now 11:30 AM – I have spent the entire morning on the
phone and was standing in the exact same place I had been standing at 7:15. To
say I was unhappy would be to classify a nuclear explosion as a slight crackle.
I was livid. I went back to the Avast site curled off a dark missive (email)
and got back to work.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">END OF DAY- GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP-
MORNING ON TUESDAY<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I reason with myself that Avast probably is not really aware
of how dastardly these chat trolls truly are and that my email would probably
be the straw that broke the camel’s back. No doubt someone from Avast would
call and thank me for uncovering this scam job.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the meantime, I still need protection on my computer and
I did like Avast. In fact my IT guys had originally recommended them. <b><i><u>So
this time I go back to the official Avast site again and insure that I am on
Avast.com and I am again on the right site</u></i></b>. I shutter when I look
at the live chat. How could I not see that GuruAid logo with the snake charmer?
Still, I’m done with them and decide I am going to buy the one year download
for $49 and be done with it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was going to forget about trying to figure out my old
license. I mean it wasn’t like I was going to throw my old computer away. I
would just buy the one year, download it and get on with my day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8:00 AM PST (Pacif….you know the rest<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I put in my credit card again. And I press the download.
Fifteen minutes later the execution file pops up and I press run. Up pops an
error message. I close it down and download the files again. And once again an error
message pops up…<i> Something about not
being compatible with my version of Windows.</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">HANG ON – IT GETS DEEP<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hang up and look for a customer service number. <b><i><u>There
it is on their</u></i></b> <b><i><u>official Avast.com website an 800 number
to customer service.</u></i></b> I call and to my relief a very American voice
answers the recording and says “<b><i><u>Welcome to Avast if you are calling for
support on your Avast product press 1”<o:p></o:p></u></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I press 1 and a few minutes later a curious accent comes on…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerald: I am Jerald how can I help you.<br />
Me: Jerald –you are with Avast?<br />
Jerald: Yes, sir<br />
Me: Well, I entered credit card and got to product download, but twice I tried
to download it and I got an error message<br />
Jerald: I can definitely help you with that problem this morning, I just need
to get into your computer and see what’s wrong…you probably have some bad files
or something<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Note: By now this is
almost funny. These idiots are trying to run the same ridiculous scam on me –
but now they are on the official Avast 800 help line. Avast could no longer
keep their hands clean. They were up to their necks in snake charmer crap and
it all lived under the name GuruAid.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Me: You nitwits ran this same scam on me yesterday…Are you kidding me? You’re in
Mumbai right – with Guruaid?<br />
Jerald: What’s your name, Sir?<br />
Me: If I give it to you will you cancel my credit card?<br />
Jerald: Yes<b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Note: Fifteen minutes
later he comes back on and assures me that my card will not be charged. The old
“Is there anything else I can do for you?” and we are off the phone<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alas, Avast has traded its great product for a cheap online
scam. Shame on you, Avast! Shame on every American company who didn’t put the
effort into figuring how to keep the jobs here in America instead of hooking us
up with that cheap Far East prostitute. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">If you go to Avast and try to get
their product this scam will be perpetrated. Don’t say I </span><span style="font-size: 21px; line-height: 24px;">didn't</span><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"> warn you
because you are officially warned. And, Avast you stink- you and your GuruAid
Snake Charmer.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-89494525361602347532013-03-09T14:13:00.001-08:002013-03-09T16:22:02.403-08:00Home Workers? Off with Their Heads!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Marissa Mayer of Yahoo gets the rules of the Fortune 500 CEO
“Good Ole Boy’s Club”. It goes something like this - if you stamp your feet, pound your little fists on the table
and push people around enough, then they’ll know who the boss is!” It’s one
approach among others. Most more sophisticated approaches today are slightly more enlightened.<br />
<br />
Some leaders would rather encourage the infinitely more evolved
approach to a problem of this magnitude with one that is less polarizing by saying something like; “Certain aspects of new developments visa vie “work
from home” positions in the work environment need closer scrutiny and certain mathematical
justification before I can endorse them. Until then we will opt for the standard
albeit slightly dated approach to work environments and bring everyone back
into the office”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All these people will now:<br />
<span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Add to gridlock</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Suck up our precious resources</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Get stuffed into already crowded offices and wall to wall cubicles</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Add to the human stress in work environments
which is proven to be unhealthy physically and mentally</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Cause more redundant costs in real estate, IT, taxes,
benefits and more</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Reduce the company’s availability to the top talent pool by not including
the people who can't or won't meet some arbitrary geographical restrictions</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Increase our costs as a company thereby reducing our reach and flexibility to generate profit doing business globally </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Rule out a manner of business that done
properly can reduce costs, increase profitability and make us more competitive</span></div>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What’s the old saying –“Keep your mouth shut and let people wonder
if you’re an idiot instead of opening your mouth and removing all doubt”. Yep,
let’s go with that one. You’re the boss though so it’s your way or the highway.
It’s good to be the king, right?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hey your highness allow me the opportunity to edumacate you
(Yeah, I spelled that right – thought it be more appropriate for your
intellectual level). You are making the classic mistake almost all your predecessors
have made and that is to think that just because things have been done a
certain way since the dawn of the Industrial Age, they should continue
uninterrupted another 150 years or so. So let me enlighten you. The dawn of the
Technology Age is providing us with new opportunities in all aspects of the
corporate structure – including how and where we can work.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>What do you think outsourcing was?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s a hint: it was a very expensive and poorly thought
out “work from home” solution. In that gem of an idea we gave away our greatest
technological ideas and patents to people who had mastered a mid-western accent.
Well, that was a little more than a hint. Still I’m not sure you understood it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You've got that rare but distinguishable mentality that must be the result of
breathing the strangely salted air densely stuffed into the clouds of your own personal Olympus…that
certain Wiley Coyote-esque mentality that keeps you locked unto one bad idea
after another like a pitbull on a human leg without any room for alternative
thinking.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s how it going to work. Well defined, intelligently
built remote communities that combine a “remote to tote” component are the work
environments of the future and for many smart companies that future starts
today. It works like this:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->It is not an across the board invitation for
everybody to grab a laptop and go home<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->It has to be the result of a carefully analyzed
evaluation of certain positions<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->These “potential” functions are tethered using the
latest hardware and software combined with both online and in-house cultural integration<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->They are the result of a stringently applied
process that includes; analysis, observation, interface activity mapping,
cultural impact studies, double blind tests of all aspects related to
productivity; all wrapped into a proven
program to evaluate what functions can move remotely and how and who this
includes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 38.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->And finally, the “remote to tote” concept of
working certain people into company cultures by bringing them in to shared or
in special cases “claimed” work spaces one day a week, three days every two
weeks or even one week a month.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What can a company accomplish using this approach?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 43.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Reduced stress from workers<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 43.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Greater productivity<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 43.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Increased profitability<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 43.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Reductions in “real” costs<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 43.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Less people jammed onto already crowded and
crumbling highways<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 43.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Less office space packed with people doing
redundant work because nobody has evaluated your company workflow in a decade<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 43.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->A greater pool of better talent not restricted by
geography<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I could continue into a real conversation on how you, as an
enlightened leader, could assess the “mathematical probability factor” we
generate using “nTelegenz” our one-of-a-kind preemptive analytical program and
our own Trademarked “Tethered Communities™” which creates intelligent, easy to
manage, practical and proven “seamless home to work environments”. But this
idea isn't for you. It’s for the person who replaces you when your boss
(shareholder) looks at the costs of the company soaring and can’t get an
intelligent answer from you. The conversation will go something like this:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Boss</b>: Our company operating costs are increasing and we’re
not seeing any real increase in productivity to offset these costs, what’s
going on?<br />
<b>
You:</b> Well we brought all those losers back and I proved my point; they were
lazy at home and their just as lazy here<br />
<b>
Boss</b>: What are you doing about it?<br />
<b>
You:</b> Well, since pounding my little fists on the table and herding them all
back into cubicles didn't work, I suggest some good old “inquisition”
motivational “re-education” program!<br />
<b>
Boss</b>: Inquisition? As in the “Great Inquisition” using the rack and torture and
all that?<br />
<b>
You: </b>Now you’re getting the idea. We just keep going back in history until we
find the business model that works.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Boss:</b> Back in time not forward?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>You:</b> Yeah, what have we ever learned from the future - unless you believe in crystal balls...Now the past, we know we can rely on methods from the past.<br />
<b>
Boss:</b> (now sarcastically) Like working children of 8 and 9 years old, fourteen
hours a day?<br />
<b>
You</b>: I hadn't thought of that but I like the way you think, boss!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Good luck with that whole new uniform you’ll get to wear. I
hear you get some comfy slippers with them. <o:p></o:p></div>
The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-8788307338671025642013-01-25T18:16:00.002-08:002013-01-30T10:56:51.597-08:00Super Virus<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Super Virus</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
Hey, Fortune America are you listening yet?</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">To Mr, Misses, Mrs. or Ms CEO:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">For 20 years I have been
telling you that the time was right to commence structuring, testing and
implementing a new business model. One that was more flexible, less top heavy,
reduced gridlock yada...yada...yada... A business platform that generally made
more sense for today's global environment with it's rapidly expanding and
constricting fiscal sensitivities. Not that our economic foundation hasn't
always been one bad idea from caving in, but now with the clear and evident
understanding we are one natural catastrophe, or some other bizarre smackdown,
away from a </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">disaster</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> that would be the equivalent of an asteroid hitting
Manhattan having a </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">second</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> option in terms of how we construct our business operations
is a really good idea.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I thought that back then, and I
believe more firmly now that we can avoid more financial havoc, right our ship
and begin to recapture our market by simply tossing out our current idea of how
a Fortune level business should look and adjusting the picture to use models
that emulate the best of both worlds -small and big business. I am talking
about </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Tethered Communities™,</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">our proprietary protocol for building<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i><u>seamless home to work
environments.</u></i></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<u2:p></u2:p>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I built the largest ever work
from home (legitimate) calling company -sales and customer service- employing
over 500 people working from home- and this was just a few years before the
Internet phenomena. Not just because it could be done, but that we were
speedily heading toward a place where it would have to be done. I say this because,even
then without the tools and technology we have today, it was </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">plausible.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Tethered Communities™</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The concept is simple though
the execution is not. You’ll need people who are really smart -that's where I
come in. The concept, which would have stemmed the exodus of tens of thousands
of American jobs from being unceremoniously shipped overseas, is to take any
function that is conducted nearly or entirely over the phone – or can be
converted to function over the phone (sales, customer service etc.) – to then<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>box it up</i> <i>or
deconstruct</i> each element (hardware, software, emails, paperwork etc.)
then to<span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><i>unbox</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>it <i>or reconstruct</i> the
function to be capable of being picked up and placed anywhere; making it
entirely portable while making the function more effective, less repetitive,
more efficient and less costly. You can even include the analysis and
re-introduction of extemporaneous conversations. Yes, you can actually create a
mathematical program to recreate the best possible application of any
conversation from all sides. You merely have to know how it is done. I’ve got
that covered.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The idea is to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>create a seamless home to work
environment</i>. And please I am not talking about the current state of remote
work which by simple default means taking your laptop on the plane to catch up
on emails. This is more like the ad you see on television where a salesperson
needs to access something on the fly and yanks out his smartphone, which is way
smarter than any smartphone I know, proceeds to pull up in an amazing full 21”
screen graphics view, an Excel sales graph (you know with the 3-D bars) to
change one bar to show an increase rather then a decrease. Good thing he
finally thought of that at the last minute. Imagine showing up to a sales
meeting without good sales figures. Now I know why they call it a
smartphone. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">But </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Tethered
Communities™</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> is a real-life situation where you intentionally decode the
function and all applications to re-create the function so you could
literally pick it up and put it down anywhere and it would process much faster,
with less redundancy, more efficiency and with greater </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">flexibility</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Imagine, if you will, not
building a huge campus with several buildings, which then requires moving
several thousand positions to this location to take advantage of a temporary
tax break. Say instead you decided </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">you</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> only
wanted the very best people and you were smart enough to know you didn't want
to move everything to do that; because moving either for you as the company or
for the families of key employees is stressful, economically consuming and
always at the whim of the economy. Now suppose you could </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">build</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> your
company horizontally. That's right, instead of up -you </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">build</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> it
out.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Of course you couldn't do this
for everyone or everything. In fact it would only apply to something like 20 to
30% of the company (the jobs you outsourced to India or China). Continuing the
thought - you are now able to attract the very best talent in the areas you
Tether. They are 1099 so even though they are the best they will end up costing
you less and still make the good money they deserve. Overall the company spends
less money of peripheral costs as well; less real estate, hardware, software,
insurances, fixed and variable costs - you get the picture. Plus you get an
added bonus with this as well - you are now sleek and flexible. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It's the best of both worlds.
You get to have your huge army but you can train parts of it to be very
mobile, </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">guerrilla-like</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> and extensible. Relocation of company
parts becomes 30% easier. Costs for payroll drop 8-11% real percent points and
the work gets done by Americans who so badly need the work. This idea could
make you a hero or heroine.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The idea has risen to the
surface. We are able to toggle from real life to work and back again on any of
our handheld or laptop devices. There is only one problem and that is the
mentality and thinking that comes with the Fortune level mind. This is
pretty "out of the box" thinking. It can't be done by default. These
positions have to be carefully evaluated and every component and aspect
analyzed to insure you can recreate the experience in individual pockets that
are attached to your primary physical work </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">environment</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">. There
are all kinds of unique "environments" that can be built; people who
come in once a week, a month, by Web or in small satellites. But those are
merely final dressing points. You have to ask yourself if sending these jobs
overseas to call centers in foreign countries makes any more sense then
developing the culture of properly constructed and intelligently </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Tethered
Communities™</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">here in
America. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">We have a very elaborate cost
analysis that we can provide to show you how much money you could potentially
save and how competitive this process can be compared to sending jobs overseas.
I know we are now looking at in-sourcing phenomena as Fortune Level companies
begin to realize the cost of jobs overseas is not measured simply a dollar amount
and even then it is becoming less expensive to bring these jobs home. Imagine
if we could make them<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><i><u>even
more </u></i></b></span><b><i><u><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">economical</span></u></i></b><b><i><u><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></u></i></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">by
deploying </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Tethered Communities™.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> There are a slew of
cultural and personal reasons that make working here more logical for a Fortune
company - if they could make the dollars work. And that is my entire argument.
For the last ten years we have promoted and </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">continued</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> to
improve the industry's only and most elite tools for creating this timely and
amazing work process;<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>the
seamless home to work environment</i>; nTelgenz (analysis for this specific
purpose), Rganx (analysis for </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">extemporaneous</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> conversations), </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Tethered
Communities™</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">the process by which all of this occurs (hardware, software,
emails, communications etc.). In fact, I am pretty certain that as a functional
and replete package with all the moving parts already preconceived and fully
engaged, we are the only company that comes in with the whole program and not
just a consulting approach. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The time is now!</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Here’s where the commentary
ends and the instructions begin. Forgetting for the moment all your
bad decisions of the past, we are now faced with a terror so frightening that
the specter of it looming over our country right now is one that should strike
fear into the heart of every father, mother, son or daughter. We have been
staring down the barrel of dirty bombs, extreme Mother Nature attacks, rogue
empires with nuclear capabilities, unstable nations, economic insanity but all
that is kindergarten level threat compared to what is coming next.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">We have finally uncovered it.
It was only a matter of time and we have just about run out of that. The Mother
of all bacteria is here. This is being termed the Armageddon or </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Apocalypse</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> Bacteria
because we are nowhere near having anything close to combating this
if it becomes a pandemic. And it will if it escapes its confines. In
fact it may have already done just that. We know in these days and times the
worst news can travel in the air we breathe from England to Los Angeles in only
a matter of hours and that unintentionally.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">What is your emergency
plan? </span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Tethered Communities™</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> should
be the business model of the future for so many reasons. Not the least of which
is continuity as a company and a community in the event of a airborne illness
that forced us to stay home for a certain length of time. We know of a half
dozen serious </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">flues</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> that could </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">precipitate</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> that
conclusion and now we have the </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">Apocalypse</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> Bacteria. When
we started to deporting our jobs I did a blog mathematically proving that we
could compete in the long run and still keep a good portion of our jobs here. I
even predicted that sending these jobs overseas would make cheaper products but
leave us with no money to purchase them. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">For the record and simply put.
Tethered Communities™ is a process of analysis, observation, education and
allocation. It is a means of creating an alternative process for your vital
in-house job functions. A way to take an inside employee position and re-create
it as a mobile,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i><u>seamless
home to work environment<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></u></i>securing
1099 contractors; thus saving on multiple insurances, redundant work hours, IT,
real estate, management and a myriad of other incidental costs. It’s been 5
years and the situation has only become more complicated. I’m still here. I can
teach you how to go guerrilla get tactical, be flexible, cut costs,
improve revenues and put people to work -am I missing something? Or is this
a </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">direction</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> you simply cannot see your company occupying. Believe me
when I tell you - someone will. Maybe not through me but some competitor is
going to get this message and take it to market. And by the time you figure out
how they are doing exactly what I am saying here should be done, your move, if
you get to make one, will be an after thought. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It’s now 2013 – in March 2008
we wrote a blog <i><u>“Is that a Light at the End of the Tunnel?”</u></i> The
blog among other observations stated that the housing crash would starve this
country until 2012 and then drag us under until <i>“we have a fiscal stall
due to overspending, unemployment and government debt. It will get so bad that
there will be no fix possible. In 2012 we will simply have to push a Fiscal
Reset Button”</i>. I believe we are calling it the Fiscal Cliff. We called it
pretty close, didn't we? And we have one heck of an alternative solution that
can<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><i><u>significantly reduce
your operating costs and put more Americans to work</u></i></b>. Not bad for a
program, concept and idea conceived by 4 guys on a 4 day weekend in Vegas. You
can believe me when I tell you it wasn’t the only thing we were busy doing.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-39990466735148360782012-10-04T09:03:00.003-07:002012-10-04T09:05:50.578-07:00Cultures<br />
<h6 style="background-color: white; color: #2f9fe1; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.38em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px;">
</h6>
<h6 style="background-color: white; color: #2f9fe1; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.38em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px;">
</h6>
<h6 style="background-color: white; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2f9fe1; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 16.55pt; margin-bottom: 5.25pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.55pt; margin-bottom: 5.25pt;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are essentially four main operating
components influencing your business today: the internal culture, the external
culture, the market culture and the very distinct super culture.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.55pt; margin-bottom: 5.25pt;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The culture of any company is a complex entity
existing within and outside of your brick and mortar or digital landscape
dynamics. It is as much they way you perceive yourself, as it it is the way you
perceive others in cooperation with yourself. It is as much about you thinking about the world as it is the world thinking about you.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.55pt; margin-bottom: 5.25pt;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is a sense of character that is passed down
from the very top of the company to the most fundamental personality in your
company. Culture isn't any one thing, it is a combination and an amalgamation
of many things - some very human by nature and some in the design and execution
of the way you do business.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.25pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">Think of the culture of your company as a living organism that evolves with the company's growth, and grows in the way it best perceives - on whatever level that perception takes place- how that organism identifies it must grow in order to live and to thrive. In any living process where thought and consequence are as important to survival as available area and resources are to the most elemental organisms on the planet; the company culture takes on a uniquely significant role. Here instead of some basic cell growth and division, we witness how the founder(s) replicates his or her characteristics throughout the growth of that company. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.25pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">This determination and imposition of behavior on others to evoke our will is as basic to human nature as anything else we do - it 's manifest destiny- whether we do this for the good (Mother Theresa) or the for evil (Hitler). The stronger the will of that organism to impose it's perceived values and the more important that value is to the other organisms that attach themselves to this cause, the more directly these characteristics define a company. History is replete with these examples. Just because we do this on a much smaller scale, doesn't mean in some ways it doesn't have the same impact. How does your boss perceive quality? Pricing? Integrity? How does your Founder treat subordinate employees? Does he(she) hire to compliment their egos or to offset their weaknesses? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.25pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">When all is said and done, the people who believe that the end result of how they treat others is just as important as how many widgets they sell offer and how good their widgets look will be the people and the companies that we remember and support. It starts from the top down and then in a mad market of individuals, policies, competitors, pricing and selection - the companies with character as their culture stand out.</span></div>
</h6>
<h6 style="background-color: white; color: #2f9fe1; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.38em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px;">
</h6>
<h6 style="background-color: white; color: #2f9fe1; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.38em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px;">
</h6>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.thebossongroup.com/solutions.html#" style="color: #2f9fe1; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;"><img alt="" height="300" src="http://www.thebossongroup.com/images/chart-1.gif" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;" width="288" /></a></div>
<h6 style="background-color: white; color: #2f9fe1; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.38em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px;">
</h6>
<h6 style="background-color: white; color: #2f9fe1; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.38em; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px;">
</h6>
<div class="p1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.38em; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
<br />
<div style="color: #797979; line-height: 16.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">The Internal Culture</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"> is
the natural evolution in the behavior people create and modify as they
assimilate into environmental changes. It is the manifest evidence of people
growing individually yet as a group. It’s about how they relate to one another
- how they get along with management and how they talk about your company to
people outside your doors. It’s about cliques, emails, phone calls, lunches,
break room conversations and all the elements that make a culture a separate,
living and thriving entity. It is the singular yet collective manner in which
this body of people represents themselves to you, your managers and ultimately
to the Market Culture (the people who buy your products and services).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="color: #797979; line-height: 16.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">The External Culture</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"> is
made up of the people (sales, management, technicians, phone support, etc.) who
represent your company with their own unique personalities. They sell and
support your products and services directly to the Market Culture - hopefully
with the same sort of enthusiasm and energy which originally built and defined
your company.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="color: #797979; line-height: 16.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">The Market Culture</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"> is the
most complex culture outside the Super Culture. Like all cultures, each in some
way affects the other, but in the case of the Market Culture, its affect drives
your business. It is the combination of your client’s employees working with
your employees - interfacing to create their own distinct community. It is the
market share exerting its influence on your company with the law of supply and
demand. It is your buyers reacting to pressures from competition, market changes
and new economic perspectives. It is the nature of business evolution as it
turns, morphs and opens new doors of opportunities. It is the source of energy
to inspire The Super Culture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="color: #797979; line-height: 16.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">The Super Culture</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"> is
where the spirit and personality of your company reside. It is the energy
created from the results of all these influences converging in the hearts,
minds and thoughts of employees, managers, salespeople, marketing people,
clients and even competitors. From all these like and disparate components we
learn the secrets that will inspire and impact your market. It is the juncture
where the observational and quantitative values we’ve obtained from the
Internal and External Cultures are processed to form the recommendations for
adapting company structure and accelerating sales and marketing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="color: #797979; line-height: 16.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">The Residual Impact </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">is the anticipated but unidentified benefits that will
result from our combined strategies and programs.</span></div>
<div style="color: #797979; line-height: 16.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 16.55pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><b>To learn more about how the dynamics of your company are defining and either inhibiting or increasing your growth, email Frank Bosson at <span style="color: blue;">frankb@thebossongroup.com</span> for a frank discussion on how values are more important today than ever before, both in our lives and in our businesses. </b></span></div>
</div>
<ul class="list1 wrapper" style="background-color: white; color: #797979; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; width: 911px;">
<li style="float: left; margin: 0px 1px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.thebossongroup.com/solutions.html#" style="color: #2f9fe1; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;"><img alt="" height="300" src="http://www.thebossongroup.com/images/chart-2.gif" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;" width="288" /></a></li>
<li class="last" style="float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.thebossongroup.com/solutions.html#" style="color: #2f9fe1; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px;"><img alt="" height="300" src="http://www.thebossongroup.com/images/chart-3.gif" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;" width="288" /></a></li>
</ul>
The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-17028107907984774162012-08-29T21:21:00.001-07:002012-08-29T21:21:44.476-07:00<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%">Genevieve leaves the Guf<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The world…life…is filled with sudden and loud endings that force us to face new beginnings. If not for these events many of us would have certainly found much easier or at the very least more appealing paths through life. It is not to be so. It is these constant concussions sometimes seen and sometimes seen and denied that are woven in blood and tears through the fabric of our life. It is this cloak we wear that becomes heavier with the blood, darker absent the life and less colorful as we age. It is the face that people put upon us drawn in crayon like blue clowns poorly traced in a toddler’s coloring book; and all from their own, very carefully sallied chair looking out their personally arranged window to gaze upon their very particular lawn revealing to them a uniquely packaged kind of world. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Then there are the people who dance across the top of your life and tickle you with their laughter. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The special few that comfort you with their love and boost you with their support. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">They are the laughers, the talkers, the care-givers the special bonds that make life so wonderfully artful. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">So important they are like your special secret – Oh how could she see me as so wonderful…I know what I am…dare I tell her? She knows and that’s what makes her so important…<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The kind of important you tuck so perfectly and neatly away in the very near fold of your heart. There her song is always sung and private moments are continually replayed - forever. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">How many times did we say that? How many times did we forget? How much of that matters when it really is the music of your voice I so desire? Did I call you last or did you call me? How did I get to be so special to someone so special to me?<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The child and the lady…The sister and the friend. Of course I loved her…she was the only one who accepted me with all the dents, dings and doubts that I clumsily dragged about. But whatever else I know, I know a secret that I can now share. She was exactly who she needed to be, to be the best she could be to every person who needed to lean in her direction and she did it with grace and a truthfulness that made you believe that no matter what…in her eyes you were just fine. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">All the louder and more devastating the concussion. If you wake up on some every other morning and the world is missing a particular sound that even though you heard it very seldom, still it meant so much to you that you instantly know your world is quieter, less colorful, sadder. Something really valuable and important is gone. Not a piece of the pissing random muddle of human defecation that smolders over liquored up foul-ty or the rum-a-dum-dum of the next big deal…<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">No, this is that very special song that is as much a remnant of the tune you made as it is the one you made together…. A sound that if it could be seen would glitter like gold, taste like the finest of wines and the sweetest of cakes. It is a visceral element of being who you are and what you are to the secret you that only you know lives inside your broken shell…and to all those “other” people and most especially other people like her. Only the few are able to achieve such a vital and wondrous place inside you. A place that when you open it’s hearts door to listen in, however rarely, you were properly jerked from the patter of your silly scurry to know that marvelous melody over and over again.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Then that concussion. It hits so hard. It doesn’t care about night or day, cold or hot, near or far –BOOM- and the world grows eerily quiet as you adjust to a new world. Something important has ceased to be a part of the music that created the equanimity that balanced your oddly shaped life. It is a silence that drowns out all the other music that you might hear. It is a noise that scratches across the surface of your skin and makes you shutter to the bone. It is everything about living and dying that we so oddly stuff away from sight…until the BOOM. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It isn’t the loss that you fear. It isn’t the impact that it will selfishly have on your life. It is the realization that the sound you once danced to was far more important than the force march your life and body continually sustain for purposes that are of far less value and when weighed and measured come up wanting and are at best, queer. You would have been wiser to embrace that dance – especially for the part of me in which she resided. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">An hour ago a phone rang. A voice of someone I used to know and still love weeping- a person who had taken responsibility for keeping that wonderful music in my life for so long. I heard the music pass away even before she blurted it out between her suffocating sighs. One light goes out and many others are in their own way forever dimmer. The music that once held a place in my mind where I could go to when I needed to hear her song is yet another hole in my soul. I will cling desperately to the memory of her face, laugh, touch, song and kiss but they will go to grey before long; until the day we are once again allowed to play together and make a whole new kind of music. Along with this comes the death of that part of who I am and more importantly who she is inside me. Now it becomes the concussion that moves me either to the left or the right – subtly or dramatically to another destination I could not have anticipated.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Another soul leaves the Guf. Another time Gabriel will reach into the treasury. One more minute we are all closer to becoming a concussion in someone’s life. A moment in time when our song becomes more fleeting to some and more important to others– <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Our light a bit dimmer and burning more brightly depending on every facet and which way we turn our face. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It is a symphony and each note is connected to the last and to the next. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It is a dance that we all dance by ourselves and all together. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It is every twist and turn whether we race or pace, run or crawl, scream or whisper, sing or curse, love or hate. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It is the scent of every move, every note which will waft across your silly little galaxy drenching those closest and sprinkling just a twinkle on those who revolve in the furthest away rings of the air – the atmosphere of our own magical privacy.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">SHE WAS A GIANT CONCUSSION.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">There is a screaming silence from the music I allowed her to occupy in my sad, little and lonely kingdom. I can feel myself and others so intimately connected and so foreign to my life already changing our dance. As they dance away I can only pray that their lives are absent too many of these monstrous shockwaves . <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I have designed my life to avoid as many of these as possible. Of course the tradeoff is that I will not create much of one on my own on that strange and certain someday when my soul drifts from the Guf and into the Hand of my Lord.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">God Bless<o:p></o:p></p>The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-18033557381305503292012-07-23T11:52:00.006-07:002012-08-02T18:36:31.667-07:00PART II: THE DIGITAL LANDSCAPE<div class="MsoNormal" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><div style="text-align: center; "><b style="text-align: left; "><span style="line-height: 115%; ">Contact us:<br /></span></b><b style="text-align: left; "><span style="line-height: 115%; "><a href="mailto:fbosson@thebossongroup.com">fbosson@thebossongroup.com</a><br /></span></b><b style="text-align: left; "><span style="line-height: 115%; ">209 333 7786</span></b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><div class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;"><b><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:16.0pt;"> </span></b><img src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTrtRwiy1XuxGD-I5XBMzURD1WYoEjgSjmlpbZmWu_8db1IzEz4JQ" style="font-size: 100%; " /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><b style=" ;font-size:100%;"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14.0pt;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><b style=" ;font-size:100%;"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14.0pt;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><b style=" ;font-size:100%;"><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14.0pt;">WHAT ABOUT THOSE PESKY SOCIAL MEDIAS?</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">There has never been a time in the history of our country’s business infrastructure when we had at our disposal such a diverse myriad of <b><i><u>free</u></i></b> venues which could, potentially -when working in harmony with a greater strategy -have an enormous impact on your bottom line! This is true for every company no matter how large or small. But as we discussed in Part I, this blog is meant for the larger portion of our clientele, the small to mid-size business. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"> Before the onset of theses free venues (Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn and the plethora of RSS opportunities etc.) companies went to great lengths to deliver their message:<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 38.25pt; text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;">·<span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Paying big money to create videos (television commercials, online videos etc.) in order to get their name, message and business products or services in front of their proper audience <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 38.25pt; text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;">·<span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Contract expensive marketing programs to deliver messages whether through complex mail systems or costly email programs <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 38.25pt; text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;">·<span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Find ways to engage their clients in relevant conversations which would demonstrate their superior awareness of the industry as it applies to client needs (conferences and conventions)<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 38.25pt; text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;">·<span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Find creative ways to certify your rightful position in a crowded marketplace and display the significant solutions you offer <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 38.25pt; text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;">·<span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->Spend a lot of money to clearly define your core competencies so clients won’t dismiss you as a small package but rather view you as a unique adjunct <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="Georgia, serif" size="3" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; ">In fact these forums validate some distinct market positions through which (when used with other more traditional business tactics) you can communicate directly with your client privately and all just for what it takes to know <b><i><u>which to use, why to use them </u></i></b>and <b><i><u>how you anticipate they will impact your company</u></i></b>.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="Georgia, serif" size="3" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; ">Consider that in the last ten years we have seen an explosion in social media sites including; FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs, YouTube and others. Now ask yourself, how are you using these networks to augment your sales?<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="Georgia, serif" size="3" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; "><b><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14.0pt;">“How are you using your social media?”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="Georgia, serif" size="3" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; ">The Bosson Group interacts with many different types of businesses but we always start with their digital presence. Almost every time we begin our analysis we run in to the same problem; a poor digital position and an even worse understanding of what their cyberspace experience should include and why it should include what we recommend! Our job is to come in to a company define the market needs from the buyer’s perspective, provide solutions, structure, definitions, strategy and sales. The first thing we see virtually on every site and almost invariably is series of social media icons. And just as they almost always have some hyperlinked social media icons, they have an unused social media programs.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="Georgia, serif" size="3" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; "><b><i><u>“I hardly ever use them?” “I don’t know why I have them!” “I don’t have time for them? “ “I have no idea what to do with them?” “I’ve got them but I don’t know what they do or how they can help me!”<o:p></o:p></u></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="Georgia, serif" size="3" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; ">In almost all cases when we talk with our clients about how they are using their social media programs, one of the above statements or questions is the response we get. If you are one of those businesses that has no idea why you have the programs or what to do with them; this blog will be useful.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="Georgia, serif" size="3" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; "> If you are one of our clients and using our Tethered Communities™ sales solutions or you are using your own inside sales program then this little blog will provide critical information in making those ghostly hyperlinks power tools.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="Georgia, serif" size="3" style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; "><b><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14.0pt;">How and why should I use social media?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">As we are primarily interested in addressing those companies that tie their efforts to inside sales which is almost all of our clients and most small to mid-size businesses. Let me say that most of the information in this blog will relate to an inside sales environment. And let me address why I expect this applies to all small to mid-size businesses. The reality for sales today is that to maintain the costs associated with an outside sales force falls to much larger companies with money to burn (and burn they will). By default, small to mid-size companies don’t have the cash flow for such a frivolous waste of their money. They are by nature of the beast, forced to conduct their business over the phone and through email so the addition of these social media functions are likely to impact their business significantly either way. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">But that’s not bad news that’s the good news. If you start your company off learning the proper habits and carefully analyze how and what works best to acquire the most predictable outcome, then you are building a productive long term telephone sales and marketing program. This way as your company grows you can manage and anticipate your growth far more accurately without falling into the outside salesperson trap. Every business owner knows that it’s important that they deliver the right message to the proper audience. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Today’s business owner also knows that they should be using their digital tools like the website, emails, SEO to develop their business but they are uncertain and confused about how they should go about it. Let’s clear up some misconceptions and bring this into focus.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14.0pt;">Social Media as a Strategy<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">If you are one who sees all of your social media links as one big black hole sucking up your precious time and resources, it’s time to bring your use of social media under control. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "></p><ul><li style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Symbol;font-size:100%;"><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-size:100%;">Don’t think of them as all one kind of thing doing the same thing in different formats. Each has a unique structure and speaks to your audience in a very specific manner – understanding how each application works best and designing your free media to get the most out of each platform will help you make sense of </span><b style="font-size: 100%; text-indent: -0.25in; "><i><u>how </u></i></b><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-size:100%;">and </span><b style="font-size: 100%; text-indent: -0.25in; "><i><u>why</u></i></b><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-size:100%;"> you need each format</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Symbol;"> </span><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">Get to know your audience as they relate to each social media and exploit those venues that make</span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"> </span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">sense to you and don’t engage those that don’t</span></li><li><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Symbol;font-size:100%;"><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">Use them as individual strategic steps; each contributing in a different way to educate, inform and entertain prospective buyers with the overarching goal of driving buyers to your website where they will conduct business</span></li><li><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Symbol;font-size:100%;"><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">Remember everything revolves around your website, so design your site to do business and not to act as an online brochure.</span></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14.0pt;">The Website<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">I’m going to cover a lot of ground in a little time but this should give you some basic guidelines on how to make your website more than one in sixty million online bookmarks. You website should be built to do business. If a buyer can’t hit your home page and in under a minute answer these three questions…<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "></p><ul><li><span style=" ;font-size:100%;">Why me?</span></li><li><span style=" ;font-size:100%;">Why you</span></li><li><span style=" ;font-size:100%;">Why now?</span></li></ul><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">…Then your website doesn’t work. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Clients often tell me that they have the problem of explaining why they are unique – forget about that. Every site is unique – if they are at your site they want to know why it’s where they should spend their money. Few people surf the web to read sites and if you structure your site properly it will be visual, quick and easy for the client to understand who you are, what you do and what makes you special. Social Media sites express your individuality - your site is where you should conduct business.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">If you are a consultant or if you offer complex services that require that people leave information about who they are and what they need, then provide that ability for them in at least three different formats. Every landing page should have:<span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Symbol;font-size:100%;"><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "></p><ul><li style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Symbol;font-size:100%;"><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-size:100%;">Testimonials (when relevant) upfront</span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-size:100%;"> </span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-size:100%;">and where they can be seen</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">A picture story about what you do or who you are (what you do if you do something – who you are if they are buying your time)</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">Calls to actions everywhere</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">Click-thrus to access clearly spelled out services and products</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">Options to call, email, access your people or the person</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">Video introduction to products and services and if you can include in under a minute the unique position you hold in the market – that to</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">A resource library at the bottom of the page for access to linsk, news, information, employment etc.</span></li><li><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Symbol;font-size:100%;"><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">A navigation bar absent “Who we are” “Mission” or “Company History” (put these in your resource library if you feel they are relevant)</span></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:16.0pt;">SEO<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">If you are spending money on SEO services STOP!<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Let’s end the talk about SEO here and now. If you don’t have a Wordpress site or a self-managed site with a built-in Content Management System, get one. Until then if you have your managed site, take the time to make sure your webmaster knows how to get all your key words in the places they should be. Don’t forget that Google owns YouTube and you will be seen there as well (keyword section). Start using a blog and distribute it to prospects, they will be seen by search engines. Send your blog to clients and prospects through email. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">If you don’t know where and how to use keywords and set up your SEO and you don’t think your webmaster does either then go to YouTube and find about a zillion tutorials on them. Or Google SEO and learn all the tricks and continuing changes search engines make to insure clients are reaching the right company the first time they type something in.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Google is not interested in whether you get a fair shot at the first page and companies pay a lot of money to have their names show up there. So the best you can hope for is to get your name on the same page as larger competitors. You don’t go do a private bakery because it’s cheaper than Walmart. You go to a private bakery because it has better bagels than Walmart’s pre-made fifty pound bags of bagel dough! Don’t pick a fight with Walmart. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">If your buyer is looking for cheaper and doesn’t care about quality, outcome, attention to detail and personal interest in their success through your specific offering then you are probably not the solution they need. <b><i><u>I tell all of my clients that they need to bring their sales conversation to a place and time absent their competition</u></i></b>.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14.0pt;">FACEBOOK<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Think of FaceBook as digital geography. This doesn’t mean that you need your buyers to be local to get value out of FaceBook but that’s how it should be used. If you think about “Starbucks” and their FaceBook protocol then you understand the “geography” concept. How many people get “new products” and deals from Starbucks on their Facebook?<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Use FaceBook to pull together your products or services in way that makes it logical for buyers in a digital geographic community. If you offer services in financial consultation nationally or internationally than make your efforts through FaceBook take on the look and feel of the general community of financial services as they relate to the whole of your industry. It’s a digital geography – it simply means that you are a part of the conversation that is relevant to the client-base either because you are local or you are a part of the larger online community that deals in similar aspects of your industry. You carve out your place by location or industry – you make it relevant by providing services or products in a way that is consistent with the person you want to visit and re-visit your FaceBook page.</p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "></p><ul><li style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Symbol;font-size:100%;"><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-size:100%;">Host conversations that make sense to the people and companies that occupy your digital landscape.</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">Every time someone leaves a business card, asks for information online and provides their email or any time you are using the phone and acquire email addresses have a process for developing that lead.</span></li><li><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"> Create your CRM, and begin to cultivate new leads on your social media.</span></li><li><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"> Have a short but convicting email to send them to in order to convince them to “like” your FaceBook page (we will discuss invitation to other venues)</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">Liking your page generally happens because you are hosting a variety of information, headlines, news article and comments all valid to the people who populate your geographic online community (buyers, Human Resource Managers etc.).</span></li></ul><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">In other words, don’t just talk about you and your company, make your FaceBook a page where you moderate discussions on a variety of topics relevant to your population and not just your business. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "> If you are talking about serving people in a general location, talk about the community, the town, the area. If you are carving out a landscape by community then host conversations, links, articles and information that relates to the person or company in that community. Nothing gets a client’s attention more than showing them that you are current in the industry and have strong opinions and observations about how current events can improve their company culture. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Pictures of your family, your vacation and any other personal material are totally inappropriate so keep them off. Don’t use your Avatar from some online war game as your profile picture anywhere at any time. Keep your profile points business relevant; no one wants to know your relationship status as it relates to business<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14.0pt;">TWITTER<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Probably the most misunderstood and maligned of the social medias, Twitter stands alone as one of the most enigmatic digital strategies. This platform, when used in conjunction with a probably structured FaceBook , LinkedIn and/or RSS pages, acts in concert and independently of any other strategy beside your website.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">It is easier to tell you what Twitter is not then to help you understand what it is.</p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -0.25in; "></p><ul><li><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"> It is not a popularity contest where ten thousand random and unrelated viewers are just stacking the list to make you appear important - this is extremely transparent and leaves your prospect asking whether you don't know how to use Twitter or you are falsely trying to inflate your Twitter value with </span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">anonymous followers</span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"> </span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;">It is not a competition to see how many followers you can get - look at who chooses to follow you and look for people that you think fit your purpose on Twitter - which may be altogether </span>different<span style="font-size:100%;"> then the message you create in LinkedIn and different form either in FaceBook</span></span></span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">It is not a place where you as a professional go to make inane comments,</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">clichéd and spent quotes or links to riddles and jokes</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">It is not a place to spend hours of time fooling around with icons and symbols in an effort to repeat a story told a hundred other times or one that has little or no value to the audience</span></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">So, what is it? Recently, The Bosson Group, after years of development has produced a first-of-its-kind in preemptive analytics tool, Tethered Communities™ (now Trademarked). This process maintains over 2000 fields of data which are compressed, compared, valued and defined by 12 different analytical programs (including our own organic algorithm for extemporaneous conversations specific to a particular function). We used Twitter as a way to build a following of people and companies that might regard our findings and follow them to determine both accuracy and relativity. We did this with calculated invitations to an entirely new level of prospective client as a way to prove our value. We may have only 400 followers but the body of them are key people in the industry (Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News Financial., Jim Cramer, Moody’s etc.) <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">What does Twitter have to do with me?<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Twitter is an excellent format to provide definition and depth to who you are and what you do. Create short but meaningful statements that link your reader (follower) to information in your resource library or directly to pages within your site related to your products or service</p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "></p><ul><li><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Symbol;font-size:100%;"><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-size:100%;">It is a place to tie yourself to important information and announcements in your company</span></li><li><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-size:100%;"> It is a place to define the character of who you are and what you do</span></li><li><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-size:100%;"> It is a place to continue to show your clients and prospective clients that you have your </span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-size:100%;">finger on the pulse of your industry and you know what’s happening</span></li><li><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-size:100%;"> It is a way to gradually bring clients to important locations in your website or on other social media platforms</span></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Twitter is a digital organism and like any organism you must continue to feed it or it will die. This is a social media and it is contingent upon you to look for and invite the followers you feel will get the most out of what you say. This is definitely a place where you can show your astuteness, intelligence and awareness.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">If someone offers you 10,000 followers for $500 and you think that’s a good deal. You are not using Twitter properly.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14.0pt;">LINKEDIN<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Now we are entering the first of my two favorite social media platforms; LinkedIn and RSS. LinkedIn is one of the most underrated and underused venues in all of cyberspace. Here is a place where you can start or join discussions in your field or vertical markets and get seen by some of the real innovators and leaders in industry. You can explore cross-sections of your market as wells as following new industries to round out your opinion and knowledge base to make you more fit for discussion engagements in LinkedIn. It is a place where you can personalize your position and personality in cyberspace. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">LinkedIn is unique in the way in which it can level the playing field for you. Here you are equal to any other President or CEO and you opinion is as qualified and regarded as any other. You are for all intents and purposes on equal terms – take advantage of this opportunity but know your stuff before you make yourself known. Naturally when you are in the company of intelligentsia , some of the good glitter can rub off on you and some of the bad stuff rub against your prospects. But, two simple rules can help you here:<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "></p><ul><li style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;"><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Symbol;font-size:100%;"><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-size:100%;">Don’t debate issues in which you are not certain you can at least hold your own on and secretly believe you can win.</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Symbol;"> </span><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">Don’t engage in conversations that end up being cyber-slanted arguments with people you do not know and are on an equal level with you. The last thing industry leaders want to participate in is an argument between two potential vendors.</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; "><span style="font-family:Symbol;"> </span><span style=" ;font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:7pt;"> </span></span><span style=" text-indent: -0.25in; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:100%;">Take the high road and bail out of any hostile conversation without even a good-bye. The sooner ended the sooner forgotten. Besides prospects will respect you for not wasting their time in what otherwise may have been a valuable discussion –pick it up at another time when you archenemy is not participating</span></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Twitter is a place to go and make your presence known – especially about all you know in the presence! It is also a motivation for you to begin reading, studying and educating yourself about the entire culture of your market. A couple of well written and thought out conversations have more than once led me to a new or prospective client.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; "><b>RSS (REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION)</b><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">We are now taking over 90% of our clients into YouTube, blogs, online radi for a number of different opportunities; “How To’s”, “Did you Know?”, “Learn This” and so much more. With over 20 million people visiting YouTube every day we are using this process in concert with other venues such as LinkedIn and FaceBook and Twitter to help create significant positioning for our clients. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">But it isn’t just YouTube it’s so much more. It’s using the technology of the web to digitally enhance our client. It’s a way for us to engage our client’s prospects and our own prospects in a time and at a place that is absent our competitor. Whether we are doing time-lapse photography for construction or monetizing learning events on YouTube’s private channel, we are finding new ways to define our clients using online RSS (radio, blogs, videos audio even Webinars) .<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">In online programs we are teaching our clients about making videos without spending a fortune. What to say and how to get it in front of the right audience. We are helping them with webinars, radio blogs, blogs and even online meetings like Webex.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Many of the places and events that we have clients involved in are no cost forums. In these cyber-channels we can help our client’s find and define their voice. We use our own proprietary highly graphical, totally interactive, instant notification email, AlphaByters.com to communicate to vast numbers of prospects for as little as .60 cents per contact (that includes an introduction and communication with a potential client under controlled circumstances).<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14.0pt;">SUMMARY<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">By blending these individual social media components in cyberspace to obtain a specific goal, we are able to educate, inform and entertain prospects outside of our website – leaving our website the responsibility and focus of conducting business with our clients; new and old.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Our rule of thumb is one hour per week per venue. That’s all the time you should need to create, build and engage prospective clients through these FREE venues. If you are using these venues properly and with regularity, you can expect to see real results with a direct impact to your business in as little as six months. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">For more information email <a href="mailto:frankb@thebossongroup.com">frankb@thebossongroup.com</a> <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; ">Frank Bosson<br />CEO, The Bosson Group<br /><a href="http://www.thebossongroup.com/">www.thebossongroup.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.alpahbyters.com/">www.alpahbyters.com</a><br />209 333 7786<br />209 642 2821<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 100%; font-weight: normal; "><b>Next in Part III, We will talk about the phenomena of Telefluence and our own highly graphical, permission granted, instant notification email program Alphabyters.com. Learning to combine strategies to make better use of your phone for sales</b><b><span style="line-height:115%;font-size:14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p></div></div>The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-80259154109481223542012-06-04T11:53:00.002-07:002012-06-04T11:53:41.018-07:00TO PHONE OR NOT TO PHONE<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%;">FIVE PART SERIES ON SELECTING,
SUPPORTING AND EXECUTING INSIDE SALES<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the next five weeks we will look at the different ways
and reasons that companies are moving part or all of their outside sales to
inside sales and what they need to know in order to get there. PART ONE: TO
PHONE OR NOT TO PHONE looks at the two most common reasons that many companies
are migrating as quickly as they can dial it in from outside sales to inside
sales. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>PART TWO: EXPLOITING
THE DIGITAL LANDSCAPE<br />
</b>We will cover what a company must know about inside sales before moving
their sales experience inside. Which digital programs will best support your
unique brand and model? What other less obvious ancillary digital applications
must be integrated into the overall process? How does your Internet experience
support your online and over the phone sales? What is Telefluence and why
should you know about it?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>PART THREE: INSIDE
SALES VERSUS INSIDE SALES<br />
</b>Companies struggle to determine how much of the inside sales they should
take responsibility for and how much they need to pass off. How does marketing
work in this new digital landscape with inside sales? What type of inside sales
will best work for you? What are the challenges in hiring, training and
converting to inside sales?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>PART FOUR: GOOD MATH –
BAD MATH<br />
</b>This is a bottom line look at each component, how long it will take to get
your program up and running, and what kind of “other” costs you can expect. How
to build out a realistic ROI? What is an inside O.R. and why should that matter
to you? How to count your beans and have enough left over to run the show?
Creating a budget with milestones and timelines that make sense and when you
can expect to see your money start returning!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>PART FIVE: BUILDING
YOUR OWN INSIDE SALES PROGRAM<br />
</b>Companies are stacking inside sales components one on top of another like a
Lego Log fort but is that really what you need or should do? How do I build an
inside sales force and what should I expect and when should I expect it? Should
I outsource? What are the pitfalls to inside sales? How is the inside sales
culture different and what will that mean to me and my employees? What should I
outsource? How do I use online meetings, social media, email programs and
digital appliances to support, analyze and compliment my sales program? How do
I insure I capture the knowledge I build into this program and maintain it for
the company’s security?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">PART ONE: TO PHONE OR NOT TO PHONE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today many companies are looking at their sales approach and
trying to figure out how they can move their outside sales inside. Plagued by
rising costs, inefficient use of time from outside salespeople and increased competition
companies understand they are faced with the imminent need to construct an
intelligently balanced, hybrid, inside sales experience and the race is on to
build the best mousetrap. But before we look at the actual construction of
these unique, growing in popularity, cultures, let’s understand why they are a
matter of absolute necessity in <b>most</b>
cases.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Cost and Reach<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An average outside salesperson spends less than 40% of their
week in front of buyers. Most outside salespeople have support staffs which set
appointments, send out sales and marketing materials and develop written
communication and more in some cases. On top of the redundant attendant costs
for each outside salesperson, the average outside salesperson is not trained
and is therefore unproductive using the phone for cold calls and lead
generation. Even when they are available for the phone and are even somewhat
productive, it isn’t like the other 60% of their time can simply be spent on
the phone. With 40% of their time in front of buyers they spend another 10% of
their time preparing for each call and drive time, to and from each call
typically consumes another 20-25% of their week. When you add up all the
numbers there is little time for them to be on the phone. Even if you consider
how much more work can be done in the car today, that work can only be done if
you are trained and structured to conduct business the moment you get in a car.
Imagine the time it would take to program in all the calls you would have to
make to generate new business while in traffic (hands-free). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When you consider the costs for an average outside sales force
equal to the same results needed from an equally constructed inside sales force
– your cost factor is somewhere around 2.5 to 1 dollars outside costs to inside
costs. And this is an average – if you use the services of a company like The
Bosson Group for the construction of the inside model , the end result will be
much more efficient and professional , with a cost factor of 4 to 1 dollars outside
to inside sales.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Costs for the outside salesperson compared to the equally
successful hybrid inside position today simply make outside sales an untenable
alternative. Compared to a decade ago
when better than 75% of the Fortune1000 Companies supported expensive outside
sales forces to today when less than 10% of those same companies maintain an
outside presence or have severely restricted their outside sales programs. More
companies today are opting for cleverly constructed inside sales teams that can
make good use of social media, email programs and the myriad of other tools so
readily available in our digital landscape.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the more important issue in choosing between inside and
outside model is not the cost. Hard to believe, right? The real issue today for
any company making this decision is the company’s sales reach. Today we have shrunken
the world to make global sales not only possible but necessary. Emerging
markets overseas (please don’t even get me started on China) are becoming
realistic targets for most company offers. If you had to put feet on the street
in order to sell to a global market you better expect to stretch out your ROI
significantly. Don’t take my word for it, do the math yourself. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So for the practical reasons of cost and reach today’s
leaders are forced to reconsider their sales model and strongly consider a 100%
inside sales practice. Constructing a sales cycle that excludes outside salespeople
means companies have to be more aware of which digital tools will best augment
their sales program. They need to understand sales as a more abstract structure
and how to build their inside sales force to convey that same sense of
personalization over the phone. For most companies converting outside sales to
inside sales in any variation on the theme requires the assistance of professionals
like the team at The Bosson Group.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The company looking at the various social medias, SEO and
YouTube will have to know which elements work for them by answering the bigger
questions of the “why” and “how” for each process. Then each environment will
have to further understand why each digital element from their website to their
email campaign is important to the way they influence and impact the buyer. Where
one company may find their reach is effective by exploiting Facebook another
may find that they can make a more beneficial impact using YouTube. Having
access to many different and often “no” or “low cost” marketing elements is
only useful if you know how they will integrate into your system and ultimately
improve your chances of getting to the “yes”. In the end it’s all about
constructing a process that is cost effective, pliable, powerful and deliberate…
with good math to back it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Frank Bosson <br />
CEO, The Bosson Group<br />
209 642 2821<br />
<a href="mailto:frankb@thebossongroup.com">frankb@thebossongroup.com</a> <br />
<a href="http://www.thebossongroup.com/">www.thebossongroup.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.alphabyters.com/">www.alphabyters.com</a> <o:p></o:p></div>The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-15648597390253622882012-03-28T16:40:00.002-07:002012-04-02T09:37:03.642-07:00<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;line-height:115%">A Peek at Peak Oil<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">I don’t know how many of my faithful followers are old enough to remember the scare of the 1970’s when gas stations literally ran out of fuel. For a short time in our lives a long tome ago hopeful and sometimes frightened commuters formed lines sometimes thirty or forty cars long, bumper to bumper hugging the "far-off" skinny of the road leading up to the gas station pumps waiting for their turn to purchase oil. Cars just sitting with there, windows down and drivers patiently and some not so patiently, waiting for their chance to pump some of what little gasoline there was to spare. Many stations rationed gas altogether. In those places you'd pull up to find you could only get ten gallons per car, sometimes less. Once in a while you would be inching up closer to the pumps anticipating your turn in line only to see the owner come scrambling out of his office head down, taking no questions and slapping up a cardboard sign on which he had scribbled “No Gas” and dashing back inside for safety.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">For many of us living and commuting back then it was a nightmare. You planned your week around when you would get your gas, because no matter when you decided to do it, there would be a limited amount of stations opened and a limited amount of gas to get. You would have to find the location and plan on spending as much as an hour or more waiting your turn. I don’t know how many people I helped push up to the gas pumps because their car had run out of fuel while waiting. I do remember it happening to me once. The crowds were generally tame and polite – but there were under-rumblings deep below the calm surface of many drivers and I think if it had gone on much longer or gotten much worse, we would have seen tears in the fabric of our society. I guess, even though I was young, I was struck by how sheer that fabric actually was - when I deep down had thought it to be much more durable.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Peak Oil became a term with which we were all too familiar. It meant that the earth had reached the point of producing the most crude it would ever produce and from that point on the amount of crude we would develop would be on the decline. We had “Peaked” and now although there would be fuel, it was not going to be replenished. The fact is that it wasn’t quite true – not literally anyway. We had more oil and they developed new ways to find and covert fossils from the earth into crude for your car. But the idea of “Peak” oil is a valid concept. Oil is, in fact, a limited commodity and we are running out.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">In 1973 it was an embargo by the oil producing countries in the Middle East. That, we were told, was the reason we were in so much trouble. I don’t know how many people believed that – we knew that as a country we had enough petroleum products in our own backyard to handle the situation, but people further up the food chain, for whatever reason -politics, conservation or greed - decided to slow the flow down to a trickle. It scared us… it angered us… and that was back in 1973. Can you imagine where we are today in terms of availability of fuel? Can you imagine what would happen if the pumps had crumbled pieces of brown cardboard scripted merely with those two words “No Gas”?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><b><i>If we passed peak oil in 1980 then we have been on the decline since. With more countries demanding more petroleum, America is just another consumer pulling up to the Middle Eastern gas pumps. It’s not going to take long for the bottom to start racing up to the top. Then we won’t have to bottom out, we’ll be crushed between a falling ceiling of gas availability and a rising floor of gas and oil costs. <o:p></o:p></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">It was in 2005 the famous Hirsch Report came out declaring that our situation on oil and gas use here in America had gone from frustrating to downright horrifying. The report presented to Congress in 2005 stated that we were in a crisis level of fuel dependency to availability. That was six years ago. Why all of a sudden are things getting that much worse? One of the big reasons is the sudden success of <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region> and their need for several hundred times the amount of oil they needed only a decade ago. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">As more people flood the highways and more countries move their populace closer to their idea of middleclass, the demand for energy fueled by petroleum will escalate from something of a problem with soaring prices and gas rationing to a sudden emergency order to remove cars from the highways; maybe letting you run your vehicle on alternate days or weeks – who knows? This could occur within the next two to three years.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%">So what to do?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Tethered Communities ™ by the Bosson Group is the only viable and proven method for taking fixed positions in a work environment and successfully transferring them to home, making them less costly and more effective. This one element will provide an enormous relief across <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">America</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s economic landscape.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%">Deconstruct and Reconstruct <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">The program uses our proprietary analytics tool <b>nTelegenz® </b>- a one of a kind, Preemptive Method of Analytical Processes instead of a Predictive Method of Analysis. What’s the difference? Predictive Analysis is what it sounds like…a guess, a good guess, but it’s a guess based at what will happen rather than what we know now. Preemptive Method means we have a plan for solving the problem today.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">nTelegenz® compresses over 2,000 fields of data reconciled by a dozen analytical programs, algorithms, statistical and organic data analyses, economic and historical comparisons, expansions, contractions and our exclusive Rganx® program which provides valuation of fluid, dynamic job processes like conversations, both extemporaneous and on script , in sales or customer support. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Using this model we are able to deconstruct any fixed job position (office based) and reconstruct that same position as a more productive and cost effective remote value. We can then pick it up and set it down anywhere to work flawlessly - whether you are in an airport, hotel or working from your home. As an at-home program, we provide seamless home to work environments that are more effective and less costly than the traditional fixed positions.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Let’s look an example:<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">If you were to take a company that only had 5,000 employees and you were only able to take 5% of that workforce and successfully move them to a home work environment, you could:<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "></p><ul style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Take 250 cars off the highway at rush hour every day</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Have over 75,000 actual days of car use per year eliminated (300 days figured in)</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Free up 3,750 gallons of gasoline a week</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Reduce the use of more than 180,000 gallons of gasoline per year (48 weeks with holidays and vacation)</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Reduce our carbon footprint in traffic by 1.5 tonnnes (estimating every car emits 2.6 tonnes and more than half of this is used for transportation to and from work)</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Reduce costs for your company by 1.5 million dollars (costsin addition to basic salary include some taxes, health care, workman’s compensation, utility costs for equipment, utility costs for energy in the office, office space,</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; "> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">depreciation of equipment and so much more - based on a yearly income of $26,000)</span></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><o:p></o:p></span><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">That’s huge, right? <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%">The Top 2,000<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">We did some checking and here is what we came up with:<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: -0.25in; "><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> <b><i> </i></b></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><i>There are 1,956 (almost two thousand) companies right now in America </i></b>which employ in excess of 5,000+ (five thousand plus) employees. <b><i> In fact they employ 39,798,812 employees (almost forty million) paid employees</i></b> sitting in offices around this country.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Let’s say that we exercised nTelegenz® to deploy Tethered Communities™ for the top 1,956 companies in <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">America</st1:country-region></st1:place>. And, to be conservative, we were only able to reduce the number of employees to work from home by 3% (that number is deliberately deflated for expression purposes only. Realistically we can expect to reduce this employee number by as much as 8% to 10%).<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">But let’s look at 3%, using the same low numbers we did in the one company example of 5,000. So, it’s 1,956 companies moving 3% of the nearly 40 million people to a seamless home to work environment would:<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "></p><ul style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Take 1,193,964 (one million, one hundred and ninety three thousand, nine hundred and sixty four) cars off the highways in rush hour everyday</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Total 358,189,200 (three hundred and fifty-eight million, one hundred and eighty nine thousand and two hundred days) HIGHWAY FREE DAYS EVERY YEAR</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Free up 17,909,460 gallons of gas every week (seventeen million, nine hundred and nine thousand, four hundred and sixty)!</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Save more than 859,654,080 (eight hundred and fifty-nine million, six hundred and fifty-four thousand and eighty) GALLONS OF GAS SAVED PER YEAR!</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Reduce our carbon footprint by 1,790,946 (one million, seven hundred ninety thousand, nine hundred and forty six) TONNES PER YEAR.</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Cut costs for those companies by $7,163,784,000.00 </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; "><u>SEVEN BILLION, ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY THREE MILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS SAVED IN ONE YEAR ALONE.</u></b></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><o:p></o:p></span><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Would we need to ship jobs overseas anymore? I think not! Could we significantly reduce our dependency on foreign oil? You betcha! And how about some other fairly legitimate observations:<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "></p><ul style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; "><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Once we deconstruct a fixed position and reconstruct it as a remote position, we increase productivity by as much as 10% when eliminating redundancy</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">We allow corporations to hire who they want as the best person for the job because they are no longer dependent on location</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Simpler functions that are sometimes cobbled together with other tasks to improve efficiency tend to do just the opposite, while in this scenario you could find the right person to work only the hours required</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; font-family: Symbol; ">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; "> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in; font-size: 100%; ">Companies can easily begin to outsource tasks that drain employees and middle management of key time; spam, sales calls, emails, outside sales and a host of other interruptions in any key position</span></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><o:p></o:p></span><p style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -0.25in; "><span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">The Bosson Group is the only company that has taken a scientific approach to solving America’s two largest economic problems; fuel and loss of jobs overseas. You don’t have to have 5,000 employees to use Tethered Communities™ either. This program is scalable and it is designed to help smaller companies evaluate and select sub-contracting components that better compliment their environment and personality.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Take the time to talk to us about Tethered Communities™ for your company.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Frank Bosson<br />CEO<br />The Bosson Group<br /><a href="http://www.thebossongroup.com/">www.thebossongroup.com</a><br /><a href="mailto:frankb@thebossongroup.com">frankb@thebossongroup.com</a> <o:p></o:p></p>The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-34369512246454075262012-03-03T13:03:00.003-08:002012-03-03T16:45:46.736-08:00<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Tethered Communities™ Finally Trademarked<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-size: 100%; ">Recently we won our Trademark approval for our seamless home to work environment process, Tethered Communities™. </span><span style="font-size: 100%; "> </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">All of sudden I have a new found respect for small businesses that acquire that designation. I’m not talking about the hundreds and maybe thousands that merely use the Trademark (™) without having jumped through all the hoops fairly and legally battled to establish their products and services as something unique and not yet defined in the massive litany of Trademarks.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Clearly for our little company, this is a major victory. I don’t know that we will ever have the opportunity to produce an actual instance of this complex and incredibly powerful alternative to traditional work and labor force structuring. We are simply well ahead of the curve. I started building this concept over twenty years ago when I believed it was just a matter of time before we hit the “energy” wall and needed intelligent alternatives to “what going to work” looked like.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">I began testing the program in the late 1980’s when I built the first of its kind work from home Telesales and Telemarketing company. Within a year I had over 500 people working from home and working on accounts like American Express, Lucent and even Ameritech. I’m not sure they knew exactly what they had gotten themselves into until it was too late but, once on board, my system worked so well that we were out performing any contractor these companies had ever known. We were more efficient, less costly and far more productive. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Before the Internet was even a thought, we were communicating weekly, and sometimes daily, with over 500 people working from home. I will admit those first years were crazy. We had grown so big, so fast that we consumed the top three floors of a deserted bank building. I remember that in the postal area of this old deserted bank they had this room with over a thousand mail slots. Every Friday afternoon the mail would come in or be dropped off by our 500 telemarketers. In their packages were their production reports, leads, hours and information on their project. And every Friday a small army descended on the “Mail” project.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "> I remember the color coded shopping carts – and I will never forget the squeaky wheels moving back and forth over the high gloss hardwood floors. First every package received had to be shoved into the right telemarketer slot in this enormous mailroom. The incoming packages had to contain all the information in the right order or they were tossed into another shopping cart to be sent back to the telemarketer who would have to fix the report and return it the next Friday (yup, they would lose a week’s work). We simply had too many people to allow them to make mistakes that we would have to fix during our very busy week. They learned quickly what had to be done and how it had to be done if they were going to get more work and, more importantly, get paid. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">From the incoming packages that recorded all the work from the week prior, another group would scoop up over 500 packages in five painted shopping carts (one color for each client project) and deliver the first round of production recording where each package was opened, the contents analyzed, new leads prepared everything attached put into a color coded manila envelope which was then tossed into the coordinating color coded shopping cart. From there they moved to accounting. Here the envelopes were opened and, depending on their payment order, each telemarketer’s work was reviewed and calculated credits added to his or her profile in the computer (the old ones with the lead screen and green fonts). Credits made it easier to figure a telemarketer’s pay because they were paid in different formats; some hourly, others commission and some by appointments. The credit system allowed us to track the telemarketer by their job and the each credit equaled a dollar figure. The envelope was then filled with a revenue report that would be signed by the manager of that client and telemarketer, neatly tucked into the proper manila envelope and moved to the next department.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "> The Billing Department would then figure out what we were to charge each client. Using the production reports generated by the telemarketer, each accountant was trained on each client’s system of revenue. They would create the bill for the client and add that dollar amount into a separate report which logged telemarketer’s credits converted into dollars. This was a sophisticated report which I envisioned. It calculated the fixed and variable costs of the company for each preceding week. Our company flexed up and down considerably every week. One week we had 24 people in training, 16 people working sales, and a staff of eight or ten people to answer the phone, run errands, etc. and of course somewhere between 490 and 540 telemarketers working from home. I had built out a very complex but accurate spreadsheet that could account for all the factors - fixed and variable, from heating and AC to gas in the cars and pizza on Friday and Saturday nights which we would calculate to within a few dollars each week.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "> That final telemarketing report was neatly folded and put into the same manila folder, tossed into the appropriate shopping cart and then brought to my office. An enormous room; my office had a grand oak desk and seating area by a large window in the far corner. In the center of the office there was a huge conference table. There I would sit with the ten top managers and we would pore over every telemarketer report both those on the computer and those in the manila envelopes with the color circles pasted on the front. Are the hours right? Was the compensation to the telemarketer correct? Were new leads in the package? Were the hours accounted for? How much were we charging the client? Had the cash count been right (Oh, yes, we would always bring in somewhere between fifteen and twenty thousand dollars in cash every week) What was the telemarketer grade (Each week they were graded on performance - three bad weeks and you did not hear from us again)? Once we had all this done I would sign each and every report which would then go to Bob. Good old Bob, who would sift through all these payment and billing reports to match against my giant spreadsheet to enter in all the data and prove out the week. By Monday morning I would know, within pennies, how much money we had made or lost the preceding week and when you’re billing in excess of $100,000.00 a month that was no small feat. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Once the leads left my room, they were rushed over to the mail room in the appropriate color coded shopping carts. There, once again, the “Mail” army would begin putting every completed envelope in the corresponding telemarketer’s mail slot on the other side of the massive mail room.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Finally, by end of day Saturday, over 500 packages had been received, calculated, audited, refilled with new work, organized, billing completed, pay calculated and were ready to go back out. The march would begin on Sunday morning. Car after car drove up to the vacuum tubes that used to send deposits back and forth from the bank and now served another purpose. A telemarketer drove up, put his or her telemarketing ID in the tube and it was sent off to Monica in the little glass room. She handed the ID to one of ten runners who would dash off to the mail room, one floor up and over, find the appropriate slot, match it against the name and run the envelope down to Monica. Monica would take out the agreement sheet and read to the telemarketer his or her account balance. Once they agreed, the paper was sent out for their signature and then back to Monica for her signature. Then, at long last, the tube, now filled with the telemarketer’s work, was swooshed out to the waiting telemarketer who emptied the tube and sent it back to Monica to repeat the process. This same process would occur over 500 times until the late evening Sunday. On Monday morning we started the process once again.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Those were the first ever Tethered Communities™. They existed about five years before the Internet. I sold the company. I didn’t want to but the price was too good to ignore and the work was exhausting. Even back then I knew America needed to start developing an intelligent process for moving people from office work to work from home and that they would need to create sound and accountable environments where managers would be assured that their people were productive. We were smartly reducing the need to overbuild structures while continuing the senseless migration of talent moving like nomads across the American landscape looking for each new corporate mecca. We put 500 people to work from home and not one of them lived further than 30 miles from the office and we could have sold anything, anywhere. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">I miss the days when my life was that busy and that much fun. I know that I’ve had some amazing adventures in my life because I always wanted to try what I thought no one else had. I never stopped believing that someday America would wake up and start looking for an alternative to the way we conduct work in an effort to reduce in-house costs, gridlock, and dependency on foreign fuel and as a means to stabilize our economy. We are at that place. I can only hope that someone sees this, reads about Tethered Communities™ or decides that the way we do business needs to be recalculated. I’ve been ready for 20 years…now I guess it’s up to someone with the vision and guts to match mine. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Tethered Communities™ is the process of deconstructing everything in a singular fixed job function - or department or elements of a function- from the hardware and software to the emails and conversations to recreate them more efficiently in a remote structure. I created the proprietary mathematical process “nTelegenz®”, which calculates statistical as well as organic values to take apart a work position and reassemble it to be more effective; removing redundancies, compressing activity and eliminating dead time to reduce costs and making them more productive. The real value is that you can pick a Tethered Community up and set it down anywhere and it will operate more effectively than ever. Our program invites companies to move these positions to home offices to create seamless home to work environments but they can work just as well in hotels, airports and even cars.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">By creating the proper Tethered Community you are reducing over all pay, easing gridlock, reducing dependency on fuel, creating flexible key positions allowing your company to have a global reach without the cost of global </span>presence while<span style="font-size: 100%;"> stimulating local home building activity and by way of economics eliminating our need for overseas employment. This is easily one of the smartest economic moves America's corporate </span>entities<span style="font-size: 100%;"> could approve. The argument of </span>maintaining control and exercising <span style="font-size: 100%;">management becomes moot when you compare moving positions to homes in America as opposed to moving offices to India.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">We’ve come a long way from color coded shopping carts and an army of “Mail” room specialists. Now we use the Internet, math and analytics to reduce real costs by as much as 3-8% and increase net profits by 2-6%. It was just an idea in the 80’s now it’s a certainty –America will adopt some form of work from home regiment. How we get it done will determine whether we get it right or fumble with the process until someone figures out what we at The Bosson Group already know. You can read about Tethered Communities™ on our website, learn about it in my many white papers or now, you can look us up in</span><span style="font-size: 100%; "> </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">the USPTO. Who knows, maybe someone will see this and wonder whether it all makes sense to try it. If you do, contact me. I don’t have the painted shopping carts anymore but I've got the program down to a science. An actual and real science. How cool is that?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Frank Bosson<br />President, The Bosson Group<br />209 642 2821<br /><a href="mailto:frankb@thebossongroup.com">frankb@thebossongroup.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.thebossongroup.com/">www.thebossongroup.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.alphabyters.com/">www.alphabyters.com</a> <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><o:p> </o:p></p>The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-52490377069484982122012-01-20T08:46:00.000-08:002012-01-20T12:29:29.169-08:00<span style="font-weight:bold;">Something rotten…</span><div><b><br /></b>There is something so Sinatra about these days…<br /><br /></div><div><i>“Regrets, I’ve had a few but then again too few to mention…<br />I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption…<br />I planned each chartered course, each careful step along the highway…”<br /></i><br />As 2011 ends and the election year of 2012 begins we face again the grim reality of an economy that at its best is stalled and at its worst without denial, still declining. So what is the President to do?</div><div><br />He had hoped that this economic quagmire he stepped into when he was sworn into office, would by sudden chance or by way of this vaporous economic “cycle” economists trout out like a powerful thoroughbred kicking at the sand and snorting into the face of all detractors, declaring “see everything comes back around…it’s just a cycle” But alas it did not, in some mysterious and unexplainable way – “Advance to “GO and collect your money” - resolve itself. Had it, he would then stand proudly at the bow of this mighty economic super ship, throw out his arms wide as if he alone embraced and represented all the solutions to our problems , while tucking the blindfold he has worn for all these years swiftly and adeptly into his back pocket, proclaiming to a recovering nation that finally, he, President Barack Obama, brought us back from the brink of fiscal annihilation and we could, with our new found wealth, once again clog the highways and discuss our lousy jobs at some distant Starbucks,<br /><br /></div><div><i>“And more, much more than this, I did it my way…”<br /></i><br /></div><div>He would throw back the curtain of OZ and humble himself deceitfully<br /><br /></div><div><i>“Yes, there were time I’m sure you knew…<br />I bit off more than I could chew…<br />But through it all I had no doubt…<br />I ate it up and spit it out…I face it all and I stood tall…<br /></i><br /></div><div>In 2008 a man who had nothing to lose went for broke. He had some pretty clever people helping him understand this magic trick he would have to pull off – but that’s all you need…the right people with enough smoke and mirrors and you can make anything look like it’s gone away.<br />But the economy was not on some ridiculous invisible clock that rolled around with curious precision to reset itself at “good to go” every time it failed. Sometimes, like in 1929, it fails and that’s just about it. But he had another curtain further back and he stuffed this curtain with a few trillion dollars. He tucked that money away like an old gypsy woman filling her mattress because she could not nor would trust the banks. His mattress – very intricately woven into his plan- was ironically what that poor old woman so dreaded, and for good reason…they were Obama’s five banks.<br /><br /></div><div><b>The Washington Post lead with this headline last week (Jan11-2012)<br /></b><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Obama defies Congress with ‘recess’ picks</b></div> <div style="text-align: center;">Nominations could provoke constitutional fight</div>And the article went on to say (in portion)<br /><br /></div><div>“Pushing the limits of his recess appointment powers, President Obama on Wednesday bypassed the Senate to install three members of the National Labor Relations Board and a director for the controversial new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — moves Republicans said amounted to unconstitutional power grabs.<br /><br /></div><div>Mr. Obama said the appointments, which he previewed during a campaign-style speech in Ohio, were necessary because Senate Republicans have blocked him at every turn. But in making the move, he rejected three precedents, including two in which he played a part,that would have blocked the appointments.”<br /><br /></div><div> <i>“For what is a man, what has he got…<br />If not himself than he’ has “not…<br />To say the things he truly feels…<br />and knot the words of one who kneels”…<br /></i><br />And with the swoop of a very underhanded and controversial move he appointed his personal liaison to the five big banks where he had stuffed our money those many years ago. Now he had a person he, himself had put in place - his personal goon - setup to go out and get those nasty banks, now very, very wealthy from the interest three trillion dollars can get you over three years, to get onboard his plan and whip this economic disaster and turn it around once and for all, by golly. And so we arrive at the second part to Mr. Obama’s 2008 re-election plan. Otherwise known as,” now that I have stolen 3.4 trillion dollars and hidden it from the public – how do I get it back into the public and take full credit for it?”<br /><br /></div><div><b>The article told us the rest…<br /></b><br /></div><div>“I refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer,” Mr. Obama said in Shaker Heights, drawing applause from his audience. “When Congress refuses to act and as a result hurts our economy and puts our people at risk, then I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them.”</div><div><br /></div><div>end quote from article...<br /><br /></div><div>And with these words and his previous dirty deed, the checkmate was put in place. Now these noble men moving to the marching orders of this brave and independent political figure will somehow manage to get trillions of dollars into the economy and spark employment like tossing a Molotov cocktail into the dried wood of a southern California forest.<br /><br /></div><div>We are about to see the magic. Get ready…Get set…<br /><br /></div><div><i>“The record shows I took the blows…<br />and did it my way …”<br /></i><br /></div><div>It sure was slick – good going B.O.. For the rest of Americans fooled by this terrible deception it is once again time to mosey up to the government’s sloppy seconds trough and feed; at least through this year and most of next. Kinda’ like that chocolate fountain at the Golden Corral – it don’t get better than this!<br /><br /></div><div><i>“Yes, it was my way”<br /></i><br /></div><div>He didn't just beat all republican contenders, he separated himself from his own party choosing to throw them under his fast moving bus and become the President of the people. In all fairness others have trodden this pathway - some not so righteous others more so - from the famous to the infamous. No doubt our beguiling Mr. Prez B.O. put a whole new swagger on this dagger. Oh’, don’t it hurt so good!<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Frank Bosson</div><div>CEO, The Bosson Group</div>The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-353233313307282182011-12-31T21:35:00.001-08:002012-01-02T11:21:29.070-08:00Wring in the New Year<br /><br />Well, it’s the beginning of 2012 and we’ve been reading and talking about this year in virtually every capacity and category there appears to be. Frankly, this year’s conversations of final doom are rivaled only by the great computer date-rollover debate of Y2K. You remember that one, right? <br /><br />So what will it be? Do we believe a rock tablet dug out of the rainforest predicting the end of the corn people? Or, are we inclined to look at our economic future with a cynical eye and wonder when and if we will finally recover; if “recover” is even the right word (hint and spoiler “it is not the right word”). Are these the days of the apocalypse or the days of the some miraculous halcyon beginning? Like most prognostications, the answer is more like a little from “column A” and a little from “column B”. <br /><br />I’m going to make this short - a pleasant change from my previous writings, huh? Consider this a New Year’s gift from me to you. So unto the question at hand; are we in the last days or the first? Are we counting down on the Mayan calendar to utter doom or are we in the final throes of the most devastating economic meltdown in the history of the vast majority living today?<br /><br />To address the first question is absolutely mandatory. Every generation since man first became man has believed that they were living in the end days. If you read the New Testament the writers and the readers were convinced that they were witnessing the final days. Surely they felt that way during the collapse of Rome, Bubonic plague, the Little Ice Age, World War I, The Great Dust Bowl, World War II and even Y2K. Have to do a shout out to my man Harold Camping who has not once, not twice, but thrice (look it up) predicted man’s demise. Yet, in every case we humans have muddled through and carried on. So is the myth of end times just that, a myth?<br /><br />I don’t think so. If anything is consistent about the story of life it’s that to every season there is a beginning, a middle, and sadly, an end. I think we can all agree on two things; there will be an end and we are really, really bad at predicting when that end will come. So, for the purposes of this blog we will address the next year respectfully submitting that the Mayans meant something far different than the end of mankind. And, if the end comes, well, not enough people read this blog (2012 coincidentally but that’s including me at two different email addresses) that my words will come back to bite me that bad.<br /><br />Show me the beef!<br /><br />Does anyone remember Clara Peller’s raspy inquest? Well, for those reading who are television advertisement challenged, Clara’s friends were admiring a big fluffy bun when they lifted the top bun to reveal a miniscule patty evoking Clara’s wrath and the iconic phrase, “where’s the beef?” The ad was an enormous success for Wendy’s and entered American lexicon permanently when later that year Mondale leaned over when Gary Hart repeated his “new ideas” phrase to hear Mondale respond “where’s the beef?” Thus was born a phrase and a classic argument in politics. I hear what you’re saying about this latest blog...So where’s the beef?<br /><br />Rabbit out of the Hat Trick<br /><br />Think back and recall the first 100 days of Barack Obama’s presidency, when he muscled through a bill he called the “Stimulus Package”. He got that money, remember? He got three point four trillion dollars. I remember seeing graphs trying to explain to me what 3.4 trillion dollars looked like. Hey, I’m a working stiff - you don’t have to convince me it’s a lot of money. But what happened to all that money. You haven’t you seen much of that 3.4 trillion spread around, have you? No? I didn’t think so. As a matter of fact I don’t know anybody who can account for even a fraction of that money.<br /><br />As the legend is told from Capitol Hill, that stimulus money, which we not only did not have but based on our famous “faith” economics, could not - even in our wildest dreams- possibly asseverate, was handed over to three or was it five major banks to be used to stimulate our battered economy nearly four years ago. So where’s the money? If the banks kept it and are not obligated to explain to the President what they did with it, we may be up a three trillion dollar creek without a proverbial paddle.<br /><br />If on the other hand, as I strongly suspect, Obama has kept a big stash of that cash for right now, we are about to see the biggest rabbit pulled out of the hat trick ever played out in front of a barely alive global audience. I think Mr. Obama knew all along that he would need something extraordinary to renew a sagging presidency in his end days – he kept that money for exactly this moment in history. If I am wrong and he is not as bright as he appears then he has squandered the money or it never really had the value he thought it would. Either way, if there is no money for the rabbit in the hat trick we are in for a very, very bad 2012. <br /><br />Year after year, fiscal quarter after fiscal quarter, we watch our hazy half-heartened government officials pull out their pink paint rollers and attempt to paint a rosy economic picture. Didn’t the White House tell us last year that unemployment had finally stabilized and we could count on the American economy to start a slow but steady recovery? That wasn’t quite true, was it? In fact in the last three years there have been 8 (count'em 8!) government presentations to different sub-committees promising that the great recession had ended and bright days lay just around the corner. And after three years, eight different studies, analyses and conclusions we are still sinking in the most toxic economic nightmare we have ever witnessed. If they said it eight times and meant it then they are very stupid. If they said it eight times and didn’t mean it, then they are very cold blooded. Either of those two options do not bode well for you and me. <br /><br />Joblessness, homelessness and hopelessness -oh my!<br /><br />The fact is that jobs have hit a low we can’t even compute any longer. Many people don’t realize that in the jobless count given to you by the government they do not list all the people who have simply run out of benefits. Nor do they mention the tens of thousands of independent contractors who are no longer working but never showed up on the unemployment ranks because they are not counted in those numbers. When housing went down it took with it all the ancillary businesses that support housing - and that’s just about everything in America. Years ago we got out of the “making it” business and into the “servicing it” business. We do not have the huge steel mills, car manufacturers or clothing factories – they’re gone.<br /><br />I promised to keep this short so I won’t go into the whole history of American manufacturing, the Industrial Revolution and the shortsighted avarice of outsourcing in the last two decades. Let’s just say we are very much like a soldier who has long since fired his last round and now faces the enemy swinging wildly with the butt end of his rifle.<br /><br />Clara eventually found the beef!<br /><br />In a 1985 commercial Clara Peller, who made “where’s the beef” popular, sold the phrase out to Prego when she declared in their sauce she had finally found the beef. So what is it Mr. President? Have you found the beef?<br /><br />I suspect Mr. Obama is as bright as he appears. My guess is we are about to ramp up from candle light to nuclear blindness – overnight and just in time for a re-election. Let’s say for the sake of argument that our newly minted president understood in 2008 that no one he knew (and he kept company with a rather intellectual bunch) the depth or constitution (no pun intended) of the economic misery we had stepped in when that mortgage bubble burst. And let’s further say that when he took office he had the wits about him to acquire that money not for some instantaneous and frivolous state funded fribble but to do exactly what he needed to get done – bring him a second term. <br /><br />The Statue that blinks<br /><br />If I am right we will suddenly see an influx of cash on a scale that will make the Statue of Liberty blink. The great and not so late President will turn out cash like a drunk on a spending spree. Remember Richard Pryor in Brewster’s Millions (forgettable maybe but ironically similar)? In Brewster’s Million’s Pryor has a set amount of time to give away a million dollars in order to inherit the equivalent of ten times that.<br /><br />In this scenario Mister Obama has a few months to flood the economy with so much money that, unless you are deliberately nailed into a dungeon and buried under three feet of fresh cow dung refusing to work, there will be a job for you. Now I’m betting he doesn’t know or care whether this errant dump of feloniously acquired cash will start our economic engine but more to the fact it will get him re-elected. We have to put on our politician hat to understand a politician who can see no further than his or her next term. For the President the stakes of this gambit are ever greater.<br /><br />So, if I am right. Be prepared to be dazzled. The next four months will see America come to life. If Obama is smart, the money gets invested in the small business engine which is the life blood of our economy. If he is in bed with big business, it will be consumed (inhaled like a junkie on a line of coke) by the greedy Fortune 500 who will promise him employment through his re-election. After that the jobs will dwindle away and the fortunes kept in the top offices of America’s most despicable CEO’s - a trillion to get us up and working and two trillion to keep their lifestyle when the money and the jobs evaporate like water in a shallow puddle on the Texas panhandle in mid- July.<br /><br />If by err of heart, will of mind or blind luck it ends up in the hands of entrepreneurial America then, just by mistake, Mr. Obama may restart the American engine and slowly relight this darkened world. If he is like most politicians, he will do this with blind ambition or blind abandon but either way look for a good 2012 and 2013. If he decides that even though he can’t have a third term and wants for the good of all mankind saying “what the heck, let’s throw the peasants some cake” – then who knows - he might just become the most beloved President since FDR.<br /><br />Either way…unless he’s blown the wad, it’s a going to be a good year…a very good year.<br /><br />God Bless<br />Frank Bosson<br />CEO, The Bosson Group<br />www.thebossongroup.com<br />frankb@thebossongroup.com<br /><br />P.S. Sorry, Jaffe but I am a Christian first, an American second and a business guy third. So if you don't want to do business with my signature then I guess I don't need your business.The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-21550007123557529892011-10-09T19:23:00.000-07:002011-10-09T19:26:07.781-07:00The Inferred-Structure Part 2America is Falling Apart – Literally!<br /><br />Roads and Highways<br /><br />Americans drive 3 trillion miles a year, spending 44 hours stuck in gridlock. Moving over 47 thousand miles of Interstate roads built over fifty years ago, we access another estimated 4 million miles in connecting roads that run through our countryside, small towns and primary cities. All of this is a part of a mad collection of criss-crossing paved and unpaved travel ways built or trodden down over the last four hundred years to make this the most complex road system in the world.<br /><br />The only time in history anyone ever attempted anything on this scale was 2,000 years ago when the Romans built over 83,000 miles of roads and that was built over a similar period of four hundred years. Their roads, ostensibly built to accommodate troop movement over vast spaces in record time, connected all parts of the known world to the ancients. At that time, all roads truly led to Rome. What started out as a means of moving armies brought civilizations from throughout the known world together for the first time in history. This troop movement strategy was not lost on the eyes of the modern leaders when Adolph Hitler used the German Autobahn to move his troops during his infamous Blitzkrieg. So impressive was that tactic that General Dwight D. Eisenhower, as President Eisenhower, signed into law an Interstate Bill of 1956 that would, for all practical purposes, allow American troops to move quickly from one end of the continent to the next; east to west, north or south - to defend our freedom.<br /><br />No other program in history matched the ambition and sheer volume of this task. Nobody moved more dirt…not the pyramids…not the wall of China – No one! Today, of course, many countries, including China, are working feverishly to construct the roads and highways they will need to connect their empires. China may end up with a far larger highway system than any country including the United States. However, fifty years from now, as fortunes change - and they will - China will face the same dilemma we are facing today.<br /><br />Patch And Pray<br /><br />No, it’s not a bumper sticker or a clever political axiom. It is the current U.S. policy toward road construction, reconstruction and repair. Across our country, as our dismal political planning and pathetic greedy corporate façade slowly peels away, we are facing the grim reality of a highway system that is not only broken, it’s crumbling beneath our feet. Cities and states that are bereft of any meaningful government assistance rely on “luck” to keep their roads operable. Over 100,000 bridges in America are in decay and some have risen to alarming emergency need levels. Of the estimated 200,000 bridges in America, both private and public, at least 77,000 need repairs right now! More importantly, 20 major bridges, estimated to access nearly 10 million commuters daily are in desperate need of immediate repair and range from the smallest of the 20; Colorado’s South Platte River Bridge over I-25 with a daily commuter load of 208,353; to the largest; New Jersey’s Route-21 Bridge over the I-80 corridor (the busiest bridge corridor in America) with more than 518,000 daily commuters. That’s over 725,000 daily commuters for just two bridges that are considered to be at emergency level need of repairs. Millions of people go to work every day with the pavement beneath their cars in critical condition – conditions that could give way any day!<br /><br />It doesn’t end there. As we see more and more streets crippled by degrading pavement, sinkholes, potholes and rusted rebar poking through our bridges all decaying from asphalt to gravel right before our eyes, we have to face the sobering reality that there is no money to fix these problems. America relies on these roads to move all of her products from point of origin to the corner store. Whether it’s tools, office supplies or food for our local grocery stores, everything we rely on to build this empire upon, to comfort ourselves with or satisfy a nation’s growing hunger is, at some point, on a truck stuck in traffic on streets that are disappearing beneath their wheels. And what is our current method of dealing with these critical situations? <br /><br />“Patch and Pray” was first spoken to life by The American Society of Civil Engineers former Executive Director Patrick Natale. He wasn’t just talking about roads. Nope - the American Society of Civil Engineers had issued its report card on America’s total infrastructure and things don’t look so good. For “Patch and Pray”, Natale was referring to local government’s current policy toward fixing serious road, dam and bridge problems. There is no scheduled maintenance – no ten year plan – no step by step strategy…there is only “Patch and Pray”. Do what you can on the things that you can no longer avoid and pray that something else doesn’t fail. Road and bridge failure is reality of our times that is quickly becoming a certainty.<br />Electrical Grid<br />Our electrical grid is an archaic monstrosity which mixes fiber optics with metal cabling and copper wire to create an unstable power core that is on the brink of utter collapse. No one who has any affiliation on a professional level with our electrical grid denies that we have powered through, built over and combined technologies that are not only unable to communicate with one another but, in some cases, can cause failure by association with one another. When one set of protocols from the forties touches off another technology from the nineties, watch out! <br />No one is saying that we could have, at some point, stopped everything and said “let’s tear this all down and rebuild a new infrastructure in its place”. Undoubtedly this was going to occur as technology outpaced existing construction. Something had to give. The problem is not so much that we couldn’t stop and build it all properly. We didn’t stop to talk about co-existing codes of behavior and put a plan in place to marry these technologies. What was fiber optics going to mean to overhead electrical grids? What are we going to do two hundred years from now with spent nuclear fuel rods? At what point do we begin the process of shutting down sections of this out-of-date grid and bear a slight inconvenience for certain reliability in the future?<br />There were three major recent blackouts in New York City - 1965, 1977 (I was there for that one) and 2003. In 2003, a switch in Ohio overloaded a system that brought down a third of the east coast and plunged New York City into darkness for two days. Enron engineered power consumption, processing enormous overcharges throughout California. Californians stoically reached out to one another during these manufactured travesties to lend aid to the elderly in danger and hospital patients who faced grim conditions during rolling brownouts.<br />10,000 power plants of all sizes and shapes, from coal and natural gas to nuclear connecting 164,000 miles of power lines, dot a countryside littered with outdated transformers and unmanned control stations. We suffer 200 minutes of blackouts to Japan’s 6. With America’s electrical needs increasing by 20% per year and the ability to repair our existing grid at only 6-8% yearly, you don’t have to be a math whiz to see where this is headed.<br />Dams<br />Nobody knows for sure how many dams there are in America but the number is in the tens of thousands. Most of these dams get little if any inspection. Thousands are orphan dams left behind by coal companies that have long since left their coal camps and are no longer supervised. Thousands of levees like those in Louisiana are attended to by local farmers. Hundreds of earthen dams in North Central California are the only thing keeping the ocean from mixing with our fresh water supply in California and contaminating a water supply that would take years to recover.<br />In Texas there are seven inspectors for 7,400 dams and they inspected only 239 in 2007. Iowa has one full time and one part time inspector for a recorded 3,344 dams (they estimate) and they inspected only 128 in 2007. The list goes on and on. For states like New York and California the numbers are worse - much worse.<br /><br />Drinking Water<br /><br />Americans drink more water in a day than all of Africa consumes for any reason in a month. Potable water is a major concern according to The World Health Organization. Some estimates say that one third of earth’s population does not have or has limited access to suitable drinking water. As disturbing as that may be, we are using up this finite resource at an alarming rate. Not because fresh water doesn’t in some ways replenish itself, certainly it does at least in most advanced industrial nations including Europe, United States, Australia and Canada for example, but in many parts of the world it does not. And despite our best efforts water is becoming more important and harder to access in satisfying quantities.<br /><br />We are consuming more water of poorer quality than ever in our history. More people putting more demands on limited resources and the natural ecological changes in global freshwater distribution make the future of available drinking water frightening. We read about floods consuming towns adjacent polluted rivers like the Mississippi and areas with normally sufficient rainfall experiencing drought; but because we can still turn on our tap and see water flowing we figure everything is okay. It may not be a problem right now but in the next two decades as more people live longer and birth into our growing population all reaching for potable water while surface quantities diminish, water will become big business. It’s the next fossil fuel where we will see extraordinary pricing.<br /><br />And why is water suddenly an issue? Water in itself is not but pollution by a strained sewage system that is aging rapidly and seeping into our drinking water is a problem! America has to wake up to the fact that keeping Southern California green in lawns and gardens and the lavish, wasteful use of expendable fresh water to green Las Vegas simply cannot continue unchecked.<br /><br />The average age of the American sewer system is 50 years old. The 85 mile Delaware Aqueduct is 70 years old and provides half the drinking water for New York City. Because it is leaking up from the ground at the rate of 25 million gallons a day it is literally sinking from below the small town of Wawarsing in upstate New York. Because there is no alternative source for shutting the water down, this town will eventually succumb to the rising waters and simply cease to exist. And because 25 million gallons of water a day to a city the size of New York is such a tiny number compared to what the aqueduct delivers, it simply doesn’t make sense to shut it down to fix it. Unfortunately for the big picture thinkers this is a self-correcting problem. Eventually the aqueduct will collapse, at least in the Wawarsing, area and the flow will be stopped by an act of ignorance.<br /><br />Will we drink our own sewage? Yup. In fact in some countries recovering waste water to provide drinkable water is already a matter of fact. Here in the United States as our sewage system breaks down we will be forced to make that choice. Contaminates in some water are so bad that towns like Maywood, California (just outside Los Angeles) have only brown water to drink. The government tells them it’s safe to drink. Would you drink brown water with a metallic taste? <br /><br />It sounds like something straight out of The Wizard of Oz…”Sinkholes, Sewage and Bridges, Oh my!” But we are good at listing our problems, if nothing else. Who has solutions? <br />Rather than going on with all the particulars of America’s decline, I will simply post the 2009 report card given on our infrastructure by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). <br /><br />2009 Grades<br />Aviation D<br />Bridges C<br />Dams D<br />Drinking Water D-<br />Energy D+<br />Hazardous Waste D<br />Inland Waterways D-<br />Levees D-<br />Public Parks and Recreation C-<br />Rail C-<br />Roads D-<br />Schools D<br />Solid Waste C+<br />Transit D<br />Wastewater D-<br /><br />America's Infrastructure GPA: D<br />Estimated 5 Year Investment Need: $2.2 Trillion<br /><br />The Crime of Redundancy<br /><br />Sooner than later we will have to put people back to work adding more cars to an already unstable highway system and insufferable gridlock. These expanded commercial areas will be placing more demand on our electrical system and calling for more sewer and water delivery. Dramatically off balance from decades of irreversible fluctuations in everything from market conditions to architecture, stretching our infrastructure thinner is not a solution we can abide.<br /><br />The biggest crime in all this is not so much our needs but our insufferable ignorance and systematic abuse of the environment and the existing resources at our disposal. The Bosson Group has a plan to reduce the pressure on all these structures and provide immediate temporary relief. Believe it or not we have a program of abatement that will allow us to catch our collective breath and continue to support our economic appetite. We can reorganize and redirect our capital to fix the most badly affected portions of our infrastructure while reducing gridlock, dependency on fossil fuels and the demand for property needs including more unnecessary connections to water, electricity and road wear and tear. <br /><br />By strategically deploying our telecommuting program, we can intelligently move large sections of Americans to work from home positions. Tethered Communities™ are seamless home to work environments that reduce employer costs, increase productivity and reduce the demand on power and fuel. These awful problems which are compounded by unemployment will become intolerable with a major shift toward employment. <br /><br />As Americans we will have to face a grim reality and change our selfish “have it your way” attitude. We are going to have to learn to share and play nice with one another. By using Tethered Communities™ we can begin to ease the burden of redundancy. And in the end redundancy is the single largest factor contributing to our crumbling structure.<br /><br />For more information contact Frank Bosson at frankb@thebossongroup.com or call 209.642.2821.The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-26429524007719982462011-04-29T12:06:00.001-07:002011-05-08T20:26:28.390-07:00Forged in America<strong>Forged in America</strong><br /><br />I mean to say that not only are we broke but we’re busted. In every way imaginable we have abandoned any sense of principle or decency in pursuit of wealth. We have totally lost the concept of success and morphed it into some grim decadence that sees no salient value in the hard work and passion that once dominated our business acumen. Whether we are talking about badly managed Fortune Companies, patently lifted names, celeb-brats or forgeries, we are still in the grisly grip of greed. And, if forgery and greed aren’t enough to shame our Fortune empires, just remember that GE had a $3.2 billion dollar profit in 2010 and paid no taxes.<br /><br />And so we have arrived at that time and place where we get to discuss, in considerable depth, those aspects of today’s business and social culture that are impacting this country’s economic position as it relates to business; especially new business. Keep in mind that I will avoid the classic mistake of the many economic gurus who spew impassioned articulations that seem to say “the louder and more aggressively I say this the more likely it is to be true!” I will stick to the facts. <br /><br /><strong>The Patriarchal System </strong><br /><br />The Patriarchal System for defining the preeminent successful business model dates back to prehistoric times. This structure has been the manner in which we have forged relationships and built America’s most powerful empires. The name comes from the father of the family who would increase his power and wealth by breeding an enormous family - more sons and daughters to make more sons and daughters, who would inherit, trade, make war and plunder more wealth, camels, crops and so forth. But so much of the ancients’ fate relied on two things: fertility and fertility - great crops and great families. Families of the ancients would often spread out over great territories to mitigate the possibility of failing to cultivate and maintain either and both. The ancients were not nomadic simply because they loved to travel; they moved to accommodate crops and flocks. They spread out to cover long distances, hoping to hedge their risks, as we see in the Bible story of Jacob being sent to his Uncle Laban for a wife some 400 miles away. That’s what spreading the risk looks like to the ancients.<br /><br />In the Book of Judges we see the Israel tribe threatened by Midianite nomads who moved into their fertile valleys when seasons changed to take care of their extraordinary crops and families. They did this because they could. Israel left them uncontested as they stripped their crops and grazing lands. This left them free to travel back to their own lands without having them over-grazed or over-cultivated.<br /> Israel’s favorite son Joseph was sold by his brothers to Midianite nomads who then sold him into slavery in Egypt. A couple of well translated dreams later he is running the show in Egypt. <br /><br />As the number two man there, he had prepared the country for a severe and protracted drought. His family, stuck in the drought-stricken region of Canaan, was forced to come to him for grain. The fact that he had managed to store the over-abundance of seven years of crops for an entire country left him in control of the only reliable food source in the region. Fortunately for his family, Joseph did not hold a grudge or history may have turned out much different. But, of course, like Fibonacci’s spiral proves, nothing happens by chance. Just because we can’t see the road up ahead doesn’t mean there is no turn. And those who insist there is no road ahead because they can’t see it will turn the wheel at the appropriate moment or drive off the cliff.<br /><br /><strong>Why the pyramid looks so familiar</strong><br /><br />But enough pontificating - where was I going? Oh yes…The Patriarchal System. The ancients survived by a system of natural growth. Families may have drifted apart in geography but never in loyalties. The understanding for each clan was very clear; the success of my brother is my success. If people stayed in one place…if families didn’t grow and prosper in 2500 B.C., an empire could be made or lost within a few seasons. The story of Abraham and Sarah holds so much truth about our relationship with our Creator, but in that is a look at the power brokering of the Middle East in the third millennium BC. Having a large family meant access to more lands, crops, herds and men with which to ally and make war. As Hagar drifted off into the desert, God’s angel told her not to worry about her son Ishmael. He would prosper, she was told, but in the same breath warned that he would be eternally at war with his brother. His brother Isaac married the beautiful Rebecca and both men came together to mourn their father’s death. <br /><br />Hagar’s lineage is allegedly rooted in the Muslim faith. We know Isaac had Jacob, later named Israel, and the rest of the story starts in the Book of Exodus. Today, fourteen million Jews sit surrounded by a billion Muslims. If Sarah had only known what kicking Hagar out of the camp would have meant…the choices we make. <br />As remote and removed as that story seems to us today, it is absolutely relevant to who we are and what has happened to the structure of what all that meant. For us in America, the Patriarchal System is relevant to how we created the dynasties we still celebrate today. Names like Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan and Winchester resonate with every American entrepreneur as much as Gates and Cuban. For many first generation Americans, the American dream was just that, a way to take your family from abject poverty to exceeding wealth; whether you did it like Astor with real estate, Carnegie in steel, Crocker in rails or Buchanan in tobacco. All made huge fortunes, not only for themselves but for their entire lineage for generations to come. Did you know that 72 families own 95% of all of the Hawaiian Islands? Seems the American dream was a nightmare for indigenous people everywhere we (Caucasians) went.<br /><br />Thus, the pyramid was born. No, not as a scam but as a process that evolved through an entrepreneurial society that rewarded industrious, hardworking, newly minted Americans whose success was passed along to each new generation. The fathers built the name and future generations were to keep hammering at the goldstone until they had gathered all the fortune there was to mine. Most did…at least for a time. The hard work ethic faded sometime during the rise of the Baby Boomer. Now we seldom see empires changing hands from father to son. Think about Disney or Gates - you don’t see their children running empires of like names. <br /><br /><strong>Forgeries</strong><br /><br />Understanding where our business model fails is as easy as reading any popular tabloid of the day. Empires were built by guys like Conrad Hilton and James Fisk. No one is going to say these guys were saints. They were not. Much of their empire was not built for them but for their heirs. How sad, huh? What a testament to diluted gene pools. Paris Hilton has as much to do with hotels as Tony Pinto has to do with exploding Fords*. There is nothing in a name. Paris is a forgery and forgeries have been with us and affected us since man figured out he could make money by making something up rather than actually discovering or accomplishing something for himself. Paris Hilton became a success just by inserting herself into society using the family name. In affect she is a forgery to the extent that she certainly is not a hotel magnate nor has she proven that she could be a successful hotel desk clerk (if I’m wrong Ms. Hilton, get a job and prove it). <br /><br /><em>*Tony Pinto is fictitious and not meant as a racial slur. I am extremely sensitive to name jokes. As an Italian American I hear the Mafia thing all the time. For the record, I was too short and failed the gun test. And yes, to the folks at Ford, I know it was all a big mistake and you owned right up to it…in court…after the memo was discovered.</em><br /><br />But this is what we have evolved into as a society of forgeries. At some point in our recent history, as technology began sweeping aside business after business - it all became a mad blur of failures, mergers and buyouts in what we call “doing business”. Companies barely out of the womb were either bought out or run over with a multitude of semi-original ideas buried in the rubble that was the 90s high-tech movement. Thus, an opportunity was born. People saw that if you came up with the right idea you could sell it with little investment of your time and money and make huge amounts of money. Some very clever people took advantage of this sudden, enormously foolish glitch in Fortune corporation culture. In the climate of this “doing business”, very little business was actually being done. It is funny how quickly we become accustomed to “money for nothing and checks for free”.<br /><br />But Fortune companies today are forgeries as well. They are seldom run by the inherited name of some far gone ancestor from Ireland that stretched his poor arms to gather together ideas, money and grit to make his fortune (remember that is how the Fortune Companies originally got the moniker). Today’s Fortune Company is run by some hired assassin or bean counter whose biggest decision is which foreign country they will use to exploit our ideas and jobs. The lot of them have proven to be apathetic to the country’s needs - incompetent or illegal.<br /><br />Take the failure in 2009 of Colonial Bank after it was discovered that Lee Farkas, the majority owner of Taylor Bean & Whittaker, once the nation’s second largest mortgage company, was convicted in less than an hour on all 14 counts of bank fraud, wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy. I don’t see his name on the company logo. But his personal avarice was so extreme that he and his merry band of fraudsters caused the sixth largest bank failure in American history. He is, unfortunately, the way many young, over-zealous execu-teens are beginning to form their thoughts about business. How do we insert ourselves in the middle of the deck so we can enjoy the fruit of our labor today? The heck with the kids… let them steal their own millions, right?<br /><br /><strong>Having a lot of definitions to define your business does not give your business a lot of definition</strong><br /><br />So…to get back to the idea at hand, the Patriarchal System isn’t bad – bad people just exploited the natural flaws in an otherwise sound principle. But, as a business owner today, you should be aware that there is a better and more intelligent way to devise and expand your company. The principle is to take your idea and begin the process of radiating your sales and the culture of your mindset and ethics as you simultaneously look for like minds and personalities that leverage your full potential. Not a bunch of “yes men” but rather a smartly blended concert of balancing labors and vanities with the same honest enthusiasm for your idea, products and plans. Look for people of sound integrity and offsetting skills to join your effort. Pay them if you can - that’s better than having to share the idea, but share the idea if you must. Keep in mind it is no longer the day of competing against others who are hard at work and honest. It’s the days of forgery and your idea is as good as any. If someone can lift it with little effort and claim it for his own, why not do just that? It will not matter to them that they are just standing on your shoulders to steal your rightful reward. There are too many dishonest people out there. If you attempt to compete against that thinking you will not find a level playing field; not that there ever was such a thing. But today, more than ever as markets become global and your germ of a company needs to ramp up, the idea of a single mastermind is dangerous. Sure, some megalomaniacs make good use of their dictatorial and narcissistic tendencies but they are more often the rarity then the norm. <br /><br /><strong>Forged is not forgery (not always anyway)</strong><br /><br />As you integrate into the business world there are more than enough forgers out there who will corrupt your idea before you can bring it to fruition. To get ahead of them you will have to think like them without being like them. It’s a tightrope to walk I admit, but it’s one you can walk nonetheless. In the end it will actually be about inserting your unique character and passion through your associates and employees to impact your market. In a later part to this series I will cover company cultures and how they affect who you are and how your personality affects a very specific market sector, even years after you are removed from day to day operations.<br /><br />Today, the Ponzi scheme once associated with the likes of Bernie Madoff includes most banks, the government and many well respected Fortune 500 Companies. If the criteria for Ponzi is to build a worthless organization by stealing from Peter to pay a little to Paul only to steal from twice as many Pauls who then steal from three times as many Ralphs, then our entire system - from the over-valued and grossly revered athletes, actors and Fortune CEOs who bilk their companies for hundreds of millions as they quietly slip off into the night - is suspect. <br /><br />Forgeries in some form or another have been around forever. Check back in history and it wasn’t too long ago that Moses Shapira in Israel forged an entire ancient nation and all their history (Google Moses Shapira for some interesting reading). Even before Shapira we have a long history of men profiting off forgeries, whether in the way they do business or the way they count their beans. Sometimes these forgeries make it past even the best detectors for a while and fundamentally change what we know about history and society. They change what we think about the moral values we used to treasure. <br /><br />We have idiots like Charlie Sheen proudly announcing that he “bangs 7 gram rocks of crack because that’s the way I roll…” and networks are trying to put this guy back on primetime television. Come on parents, what does this tell your children? Can you possibly say “Yeah, let’s sit down and watch ole lovable Charlie as he uses the props to keep his balance because he has been out all night doing drugs”? If we don’t stop the nonsense and say “no more” then these amoral maniacs are going to continue to exploit your children, our business and our country. That is not okay! Say it!<br /><br />I’m certain you don’t want to read my rants on this societal perversion so I’ll steer back to what is relevant. For every forged piece of crappy business that some lazy con artist tries to pass off on industry, there are hundreds of legitimate businessmen and women working very hard to promote genuinely authentic ideas. New products and services are emerging from our entrepreneurial population at a pace never before realized in the rich history of the American business world.<br /> <br />And although there is still a long way to go before we can actually call ourselves “in recovery”, I think we are at a place where we can begin to ask the right questions about our future after this economic Armageddon such as…What should we look like as a business if the old business model is no longer valid? How do we reverse this perversion of pounding out these ridiculous buyout numbers to stabilize our economy? How do we stop, or at least discourage, forged business models looking to take advantage of our generous system of freedom of information without the benefit of working hard for their money?<br /><br /><strong>THE UPCOMING SERIES</strong><br /><br />Over the coming weeks I will be looking at all aspects of the business environment and economy in America – both as a retrospective to give you some balance and points of reference and as it looks and behaves today. In every section I will provide three elements. First, I will be exploring the historical roots of our country’s business. Second, I will provide relevancy in analytics, both statistically and organically, as they relate to business owners today. Finally, and most importantly, in every section I will frame simple but practical solutions you can use to secure your business, invest in productivity moving forward and provide for the general stability of your own market and profitability.<br /><br />These next weeks will reveal some of the most intimate and important aspects of how America came to be what she is today in terms of her business modeling. It will be a wonderful opportunity for new owners to acquire a strong historical perspective on our markets; where they came from and where we think they may be going. And, of course, it will always be controversial as well as informative. I sincerely hope you will come back for more. Don’t hesitate to send me comments both good and not so good – I welcome all. <br /><br />Frank Bosson<br />CEO The Bosson Group<br />frankb@thebossongroup.com<br />www.thebossongroup.com<br />O-209 333 7786<br />C- 209 642 2821<br /><br />Frank will be taking excerpts from his various papers, advanced training courses, talks and his most popular business satires. These are the comments and opinions of Frank Bosson and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of other individuals at The Bosson Group or our contractors or clients.The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-48036831424377157282011-03-16T22:20:00.000-07:002011-03-16T22:21:01.720-07:00I’m going to deviate from my normal discourse on economics and my discussions on improving your corporate model to talk about something that is far more important. A few days ago Japan experienced, for the second time in its recent history, devastation that raced across her countryside obliterating an entire infrastructure and taking thousands of lives.<br />What must they be thinking right now? How resilient will this nation have to be? These people in this horror must find a way to rise again and look this most terrifying reality straight on, survive through it and thrive even when they think they cannot. And they must do so with a sense of purpose and resolve the rest of us could not understand because they will find this strength in a place they have visited within themselves once before. Which of us can imagine the face of such morbid fury? And for almost everyone living in Japan and growing up in the long shadow cast by two bombs dropped over sixty years ago upon a society that could have never imagined the horizon of devastation that lie ahead, they now, once again, have that black sun rising upon their innocent faces. <br />I was just a child reading about the bombs that were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima and we, as school children, were elated as the teacher told us about the evil empire of Japan that once existed and how we were forced to do this terrible thing to stop them from continuing a war that was strangling the world - a war we were told that the Japanese showed no interest in surrendering to even in the face of certain defeat. As a child I wondered why they had to bomb not one but two cities. Wasn’t there some island…some remote location where they would witness this horror without being subject to the barbaric and cataclysmic effects of this inhuman atrocity? This was to be capitulation through the evaporation of women, old men and children. There were no soldiers of any consequence in either city<br />Years later, as a Marine facing the docks that would take us all to Viet Nam, I strangely thought back to that moment and how that once evil empire was now one of our greatest allies. They would become the only country to draft into their own constitution a law that would prevent them from ever developing the outrageous power of atomic bombs and nuclear destruction. They would not pursue - even though they have proven they could very well have done just that – the same brutal technology which had been perpetrated upon them. They as a country, people and a government would never participate in the fury that came with the end, not just of their soldiers fighting in the trenches, but the women and children left behind in the nearly empty cities. Cities that were probably filled with people who, like many of us, were struggling to make sense of this war after so many years…a war that left them hungry and desperate. The letters from the front telling them as they told us that this one died or that one has gone missing. We were right to fight this war but we cannot deny that ordinary people suffered grievous personal loss brought about by a group of men who decided a fate that would engulf a nation…a world.<br />I wondered, would Viet Nam one day become our friend? Would all the lives that were being tossed into this death pyre be suddenly neutralized by the country we now so hated when it became a friend of America’s at last? Well, it did end as I had expected and the result is much the same. Today tourism to Viet Nam is a fascination for many Americans. Do they not realize the ground they walk on is soaked in the blood of so many young Americans…the blood of Mark? More about him in a minute.<br />The world was different in each case and for each war. The war against Hitler, Mussolini and Emperor Hirohito was different than the war against the unknown names of the north versus South Viet Nam. The people of the United States were not in favor of this southeastern Asian war. They protested, ran away to Canada, burnt draft notices and spit on soldiers. They blamed the soldiers as they returned as if they themselves had sat down one day at some large table and said – “You know I don’t like being here in the beautiful countryside enjoying a Coca-Cola on this peaceful summer Sunday afternoon - let’s go kill strangers!”<br />The soldiers were every bit as much the victims as were the people of Viet Nam. Names today are a blur…General Giap, Hanoi Jane, General Westmoreland, President Johnson - so weary from all the blood on his hands he ended up saying “I will not seek nor do I intend to run for President a second term.” Of course, his first term was actually the result of our beloved President Kennedy being killed by some strange, over-zealous, insignificant radical who bought his gun through a magazine! <br />A lucky shot brought all this about. Kennedy had said only a few months before his death “We should not get involved in sending troops to Viet Nam. I am opposed to sending our boys to fight a war there.” Had he lived would we not have gone? Would Mark still be here and would we still be buddies?<br />Now about Mark Pulisiano. He was handsome, strong, funny and my best friend. He got me busted for sneaking a candy break when he was on fire watch during boot camp at Paris Island which was every bit as scary as any war could ever be. We fought about it…then laughed about it. I waited for the right opportunity and got him busted for hiding cigarettes…it was a beautiful thing. We fought about that and then laughed about it. He didn’t die in Viet Nam so his name is not on the wall. I found this out from a client who visited the wall and could not find his name. I have never been to the wall and don’t expect I will ever go. But the war killed him as sure as it killed any name on that wall. He was blown up by a mine, shot then stabbed and left for dead. They took seven hours to get to him but somehow he managed to stay alive. He stayed alive for several years…well he hung onto to life for several years. In the end the wounds overcame him and he died. His family moved away and they drifted apart. They were all just fatigued watching Mark slowly lose his battle to ever fully return. I lost touch with them and just about everybody in my life.<br />Now what does this have to do with Japan and the tsunami? Everything! Wars and natural disasters are very much the same. They take from the left and the right, the front and the back, the good and the bad, the rich and the poor. They are indiscriminate in their sheer grim delivery of death. They don’t care – like bullets and bombs – tsunamis just do what they do. How many Marks are missing in Japan this very night? Men and women who are the best of friends, dearly loved by so many and loved so completely by a very few, like I loved Mark.<br /> I remember the viral video with the woman and the phony parking space where she pulled down the fake sign and rolled up the plastic tarp…remember that one? It was unbelievable. She was so inventive. How many of us wanted to make our own space downtown and here she was filmed by a couple of young men waiting for her space laughing as it disappeared. That was Tokyo wasn’t it? Were people killed there? Is she okay? Are the people who took the video okay? If you are please post another video and let us know you’re doing okay…we are watching for you.<br />Sixty-five years ago the most awful thing we thought could happen to anybody happened to everybody in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Did they understand the leaflets falling from the American planes that told them to leave? Or, did the government tell them not to worry, like ours did so many dishonest times over the years? How many Marks listened to them and stayed? How many families hung onto the sick and dying until they finally - in terrible pain and grim fashion –passed… before the families themselves, exhausted from the journey this kind of grisly death exacts, gave up and just bowed their heads said some innocuous last words to one another and moved on after throwing the last bit of dirt on the grave of a loved one. Like Mark - who could have been a great dad, grandfather, great-grandfather and my best friend. How different would his life have been? How about mine?<br />Japan, for the second time in the lifetime of the country’s memory, is digging through unimaginable ruins for the remains of the people that made up their lives and, in some strange way, made up ours. The land is drunk with the blood of the love so many have lost. The ground is bloated with the corpses of children, women, young men and old alike – loved and unloved…known and unknown. They will be digging for a long time. And long after the news stops, they will be talking about the dark days of this horrible catastrophe in Japan and many will still be digging - maybe not through the hard rubble of the boards and bricks - but through the snapshots of the memories they will cling to ruthlessly, protecting for themselves alone, desperately bitter for the moments they were denied; the mothers of sons and daughters and the children of the many parents. Lest we forget the prisoners who could not be moved, the sick washed away in the hospitals, the fishermen trying to save the precious boats that measured the income their family needed to survive…all lost. Lifetimes lost in a moment; a moment we pray we will never understand. <br />Many people will ask “where is my God at this horrible moment?” Some will scream “this is what sin brings”. Others will wax philosophically about some “great plan”. Atheists will shout “this is just more proof”. It is proof alright; just not proof of an absent Creator. In the end, the mother whose lifeless baby rests in her muddy hands will only have the one question…”why her and not me?” She will never get that answer. I have never gotten mine.<br />I have often passed the grave of the one I loved without as much as a tear. I have cried myself out. I have drunk my guilt to death. I have hated myself to death and back and I have never fixed the broken part of me. I can tell that mother that she will never fix hers. No comfort there I guess; just a sad, awful truth. There are some things we cannot understand – they are so far beyond our wildest imagination they defy human comprehension. They smell of mad and ugly chance. They build cathedrals for atheists to stand in and pound their podiums just to say “I told you so!”, but they have no more of an answer than the ones that utter inane platitudes about Noah’s ark.<br />I believe that Jesus came to save us all. He came to save Mark from his grisly life. He came to save me from my suffocating guilt and he came to save the poor people in Japan from their staggering loss. He didn’t come to stop these things. He came to say “I will love you despite them and through them. I will love you through your despair, your anger, your misery, your terror and your own end”. You cannot choose the things that will happen to you in the dark of night as the world unleashes her violence or old men decide to send young men to war. But you can choose how to respond to them. I will respond to this with money, tears and prayers. There is nothing else I can do.<br />I did not choose to be this man…<br />I did not choose to fight this fight…<br />to suffer this confusion that drowns me…<br />to end up on this road all alone…<br />But I do choose you, my Lord.<br />I will not, in my time, understand the sun’s setting upon the good and the bad…<br />But I do know that you chose us…not in our times of wealth and fame but in our moments of grief and loss.<br />You chose us not when the sun was at its warmest in the fullness of our youth with the whole world ahead of us and the possibilities endless…<br />You chose us when the sky turned dark and there was no tomorrow from where we stood that day…<br />And because you choose me at my worst, I chose you at my best.<br />America’s prayers are with you Japan. <br /> We are on our knees. <br /> Our hearts are broken.<br /> Your loss is felt. <br />Peace be with you…the peace that only God can give. Let the noise subside as you get through this terrible time; to come out to a time of peace, quiet and hope…blessed, sweet, soothing hope.<br />Frank Bosson<br />CEO, The Bosson Group<br />www.thebossongroup.comThe Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-31712101445699492102010-12-03T19:20:00.000-08:002010-12-03T19:44:20.200-08:00Cereal Box™ Marketing with The Bosson Group<strong>Cereal Box™ Marketing from The Bosson Group</strong><br /><br />Inside every company there is a fortune of untapped wealth waiting to be mined, refined and cut into fine diamonds. That “fortune” is of course the power of creativity locked away in your workforce. Boardrooms have often thought it might be good to incorporate frontline views of a wider spectrum of company departments into the whole of their sales/marketing strategy. <br /><br />But how do you acquire real wealth from unrelated individuals functioning in completely different company job descriptions? How do you combine the observations of a customer service rep with an engineer and someone from accounts payable all at once into some cohesive form of real intelligence (and here’s the real issue) – How do you do this without bringing your operation to a complete standstill?<br /><br />Cereal Box™ is a way to get your entire company involved and excited about the decisions that impact the way your company thinks and what it does. This is more than a pretty ingenious way to explore potential in new and existing markets - this is a program that puts your employees on the front line, fighting the war to make your company greater. Their desire to see your company succeed isn’t new information, but what is new is a method you can execute to make use of their innately creative ideas. These people share something vital – they possess a “feet on the ground” view of the battle that is taking place in and for your markets. <br /><br />Your engineers, estimators, customer service reps, and sales and management people all have something in common with one another, they each possess a definitive and singular view of your business as it affects your customer. In addition to that, in the light of today’s crushing economic environment, your employees have an integral stake in your company’s success. As our market landscape shrinks the survival of an individual’s employment becomes more than an issue of their own efforts…it becomes something they view as a member of your company “team”. Most employees know the best way to insure their continued employment is to work in a successful environment. Not only must they contribute their personal best but they must hope for and – in every possible way – provide to the greater prosperity of the whole company (not just their cubicle or office). <br /><br />Americans consider their jobs to be one of the most important and defining elements of their lives. Most of the truly dedicated professionals; young or old - officer or foot soldier, see the company they belong to as the team they support and they are always willing to give much more than companies ever ask. Not in paperwork, phone calls, reports or time at work, but in how their ideas might help the company improve. <br /><br />Listed as one the most important aspects of our adult life, our careers often seem out of our control. That helplessness can be a dreaded and frustrating experience for most people - not because of anything you do (although that’s not always true), but because of what you don’t do – and that is to ask them their opinion.<br />When we independently asked company employees if they were willing to participate in “contributing ideas” to help their company explore new marketing opportunities, knowing that 90% of what they would do would happen at home and off campus, the overwhelming response was “Yes!” Your employees want to get your attention. They are often tripping over themselves to tell you exactly what they think. <br /><br /><strong>They want to contribute to their own success. They want to be a part of the company’s success. They are waiting for you to ask them – “What do you think?”</strong><br /><br />Cereal Box™ by The Bosson Group can show you how to practically and strategically take advantage of your company’s inherent resources to make new inroads to existing clients or new markets. The question of marketing for any company is a complex process and different for each company. We couldn’t possibly cover all the different venues for marketing/branding in this paper. What we will cover here is Cereal Box™ by The Bosson Group<br /><br />The project is fairly simple to execute. Any box company can sell you a short run of boxes that will fold into something like a cereal box. I got these for .68 each and purchased 50 for one client project*. I’ve purchased less and paid a little more and had larger projects that required a couple hundred, so it really depends on your company and how many people you want to get involved.<br /> <br />Provide three boxes minimum (unfolded) per team member or as many unfolded boxes as a team member might request (children and spouses at home may want to get involved – some companies have even invited client members or community organizations for goodwill). The idea is for the team to get together and come up with <strong>THREE WAYS TO SELL EXISTING PRODUCTS TO NEW MARKETS OR THREE NEW MARKETS FOR EXISTING PRODUCTS OR (WITH SLIGHT MODIFICATIONS) THREE ENTIRELY NEW PRODUCTS AND MARKETS (OR ANY COMBINATION OF THE ABOVE). But it’s not limited to new markets or products – how about THREE WAYS TO CREATE NEW PRODUCT APPEAL – THREE WAYS TO BETTER SUPPORT YOUR CUSTOMER – THREE CONTESTS THAT GET MORE NEW COMPANIES INVOLVED – THREE NEW IDEAS FOR SEMINARS OR CONFERENCES – THREE WAYS TO IMPROVE SALES, REDUCE COSTS, ENHANCE COMPANY IMAGE…</strong>the team idea proposition is almost endless! <br /><br />The basic structure for Cereal Box™ is simple enough. Usually three to five teams of three to five people each. Each team should include people in your company who might not otherwise have a chance to either work together or collaborate over work issues. One team of three might include; one from engineering, another from sales and the last from customer service. A second team might include someone from management, IT and marketing. A third team might have someone from customer support, another from accounting and a third from shipping. This way you have people with very different views on how your business is conducted, received and employed by point of process personnel in client companies who ultimately share the same objective; company wealth. If you have fewer departments, mix the people up from relevant groups and put together fewer teams. For best results… <br /><br />1.There shouldn’t be less than three teams with a minimum of three people per team. <br />2.All members of each team should have some direct interaction with your customers.<br />3.Whenever possible never have two people from the same department on the same team (exceptions might be customer service and technical support or people with billing questions where sometimes the lines of relativity get blurred).<br />4.Never more than five teams of five people each (once you properly analyze the intelligence you have gathered and the effectiveness of the program you can always create new teams and run the contest over and over again). <br />5.Cereal Box™ teams are selected either by managers, employee elections or random selection (draw from a hat).<br />6.Each team must have a leader responsible for reporting back to upper management. Speaking of upper management, a good rule of thumb is to include someone from sales, marketing and the boardroom – but if you are smaller or you want to simplify things, pick the person who will most profit from this (marketing makes sense).<br />7.No matter how you elect to put together the teams, make the announcement a company event and get the teams involved. One easy way is to give each team a name (try to be more creative than “the red team and the blue team”). You can even let them choose their own team name (just the names they select may tell you something about what you can expect from their desire to work together and the level of creativity you might expect). One note: Make certain names are not controversial or border on tasteless (be forewarned this can happen no matter how innocently)<br />8.Reward each department and have a winner, both team and individual, providing some general incentive for the most popular or contributing team member. If their families are involved have some Little Contests pepper your Cereal Box™ program. For children of employees, suggest an art or essay contest whereby the student who submits the most creative art or poignant essay on “Why daddy’s company is good for the community” is presented with a $500 donation for their favorite school activity or approved charity (make sure you have a list - you don’t want them contributing to something dangerously political or religious). Or ask the winner to do something with the money that helps the community and have them report back to you for your monthly newsletter. And what do you do with an eight year olds’ art? How about using it for your next year’s employee Christmas card or for the cover of the monthly newsletter! Big Contests for employees on the winning team can be a day off, tickets to a local sporting event or maybe even a sit down lunch with the CEO to talk about his or her contribution, but try to stay away from giving cash, it tends to never be enough and gives the program the “must do” commitment feeling, which sucks the fun out of it.<br />9.Keep the company appraised on how each team is doing and don’t let the contest last more than a few weeks (certainly no longer than four weeks).<br />10.Allow teams to meet once a week for a couple of hours at work (maybe even throw in a lunch for each team if budget allows) but make it clear that much of the creative work should take place at home.<br />11.If you decide to do this without our supervision, make sure you establish firm but fair rules like how much time they can spend on the project at work. You must insist there are no unauthorized meetings off campus with anyone – period. Have rules on where, when, how and if they can include customer input (usually get them to have customer questions approved by the team leader). Approve all email content designated for inter or intra-office communication. Supervise their work but don’t be Machiavellian <br /><br />Results vary but the experience as a whole for individuals and the company are usually massively impressive on many levels. You cannot conduct the program without learning some rather hard and wonderful truths about who you really are. Over the years we have used the program successfully on several clients. One company found a way to improve the click-back rate on an incidental email product from about 1/2 of 1percent to over 7 percent and, with a slight engineering change, created a new product and named the product.<br /> <br />The Cereal Box™ marketing program engages individuals from different company departments who would normally never have an opportunity to share insights and new ideas. <br /><br />This is a controlled, manageable and creative exchange process which can and will increase your brand awareness and sales by embedding your company’s personality and enthusiasm across a broad spectrum of your market rather than the more typical explosive single point impact created with normal sales and marketing efforts. <br /><br /><strong>Think of the efforts from Cereal Box™ as being an open hand with all ten fingers gripping your customer as opposed to a single fist pounding one target area. </strong><br />Cereal Box™ is simple to organize, effective in bringing your own company people together as a team and a powerful way to impact your market and engage your customers on a wide range of relevant issues.<br /><br />Cereal Box™ is a gift you give your own company. Infuse your company with a new sense of unity. Promote a healthy dialogue and reward new ideas. Discover new talent you might otherwise have never seen; creating venues that are fresh and uniquely constructed, speaking the native language of your markets.<br /><br />Typical disclaimer<br />Of course not everyone can participate all the time and some people may not be a fit for such a program. The Bosson Group has engineered a quantitative, behavioral and predictive tool which evaluates tests and assists in the selection and proper cross-section of personnel to participate in your company’s own unprecedented marketing event. Each team member is carefully considered and their department’s contribution weighed for just the right balance in customer service, marketing, sales, engineering, IT services and management representation. <br /><br />We reserve the rights to the name Cereal Box™ and it would just be in bad taste to use it as your own anyway. No promises are guaranteed or implied in this communication. Results vary and even more when you try this on your own. Please don’t call for more hints or suggestions if you attempt this yourself and without our input – we don’t want to be unfriendly but we can’t provide assistance without accepting liability. People, places and types of business all, individually and collectively, affect how to structure your event and this communication carries many generalities and no specifics. So a word to the wise – use common sense if attempting this on your own. Yes, you can hire us to set the program up so you can run your own event internally without additional compensation to The Bosson Group.<br /><br /> <br />*send to info@thebossongroup.com for a full copy of this report with photosThe Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-24421886361297478642010-09-15T17:44:00.001-07:002010-09-15T20:35:38.371-07:00We have met the enemy…and we used to work for them!“We have met the enemy…and we used to work for them!”<br />On August 6th USA Today reported the following ( http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2010-08-06-manufacturing04_CV_N.htm ) “Faced with rising costs, General Electric is moving production of its new energ -efficient water heater halfway around the world. The country it's leaving? China. The one it's bringing 400 jobs and a newly renovated factory? The United States. A small but growing band of U.S. manufacturers — including giants such as General Electric and Caterpillar— are turning the seemingly inexorable offshoring movement on its head, bringing some production to the U.S. from far-flung locations such as China. Others that were buying components overseas are switching to U.S. suppliers. Ford Motor said Wednesday that it's bringing nearly 2,000 jobs to its U.S. plants by 2012 from suppliers, including those in Japan, Mexico and India.”<br />In September, ABC News (http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=5492084&page=1 ) followed up with a report of their own calling the new movement “Insourcing”… “As the U.S. economic slump continues, American jobs are increasingly in short supply: the U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday that employers shrunk payrolls by 51,000. The decline was smaller than expected but still marked the country's seventh straight month of job losses. The national unemployment rate, meanwhile, has jumped from 5.5 percent to 5.7 percent. But some experts say there is a bright spot on the jobs front: At least a handful of American companies who had relied on workers stationed overseas are now bringing jobs back to the United States. In addition, foreign companies are continuing to expand U.S. operations and hiring more local residents, instead of flying in foreign staff for business. “<br />Since then, amongst a score of local and national articles paying attention to this phenomena, Bloomberg Businessweek (www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_26/b4090038429655.htm ) and even NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100131296 have spoken on the subject of economic balance. We are finally meeting in the middle and that means that jobs once shipped off to China and India, or any of the other exotic or at least distant ports, may be coming home. <br />The headlines and debaters in newspapers, business magazines and even television are beginning to talk about the stabilizing costs that will make outsourced jobs attractive to American workers. Surprisingly there is a good argument for making this case. Rampant unemployment in America means that corporations can probably get people to work for less and even snag a slightly better caliber of person to do this kind of work. Tax breaks are being offered as bait for cities desperate to attract business, government incentives of cash and trade protection, a century of reliable, honest production (no radioactive lead in our toothpaste, honey) and (for anybody who has driven through a major city in the last two years knows) there is more than ample room for anybody who wants to move in and set up shop The timing for returning these outsourced jobs back onto American soil is good – probably never better. But not so fast!<br />Don’t you hate when there’s always that but in any supposed “good news”? The economy is going to get worse before it gets better. Before we as a country start handing the keys to every major city in America over to these conglomerates, maybe we ought to walk down memory lane and recall that no small amount of the unemployment we are suffering is the direct result of these very same Fortune companies bailing out of America in her time of need. Not that they had any national obligation to stick in the heat with us and turn this thing around for the good of Old Glory and all that (although those time worn values need to be picked up, dusted off and made more than some kind of bumper sticker philosophy). And I don’t say “hold on a second” because I am certain that they will abandon us at the next drop of the economic hat either. <br />After all, we made them who they are - and I mean that in every sense. So, we have to take some responsibility and recognition the Fortune companies that are good and those that are just plain evil. You know them; the companies that deliberately flood the market with inferior products and inflated prices and the corporate directors who took hundreds of millions to remove themselves from the very companies they raped and pillaged. Or billionaires that flaunt their wealth shamelessly while they drape themselves in the very freedom and protection they enjoy under our Constitution without the slightest bit of remorse or sense of duty to one’s country (it’s a nice place to live but I wouldn’t want to pay employee wages here – yuk, yuk). After all, what could we do when they folded their tents and moved away to greener pastures (never was a metaphor so acutely and sadly accurate)? I mean it’s a country built of the principle of capitalism, right?<br />It’s also the country that was built and paid for by the blood of patriots, many of whom lost much of everything they owned and many of the people they so dearly loved, who made that statement and started this whole party to begin with. These corporations that made their products globally iconic because they were “made in America” had the labels reprinted and warnings written in Chinese. But am I just angry because they were pathetically empty of values and any sense or morale decency in their ruthless pursuit of corporate wealth?<br />No…well maybe a little. But that’s not the subject of this editorial. I think there is a very practical and relevant point to be made here and issues we should explore before we open up the shores and let these critters wriggle back. <br />Assume, as any reasonable person must, that they will be returning with the same mindset they had when they left. Seriously, when was the last time a corporate boardroom was accused of sensitive creativity? Can you imagine these dominions rebuilding their dynasties on today’s fractured infrastructure? Talk about the end of the world and God calling! Nothing could more swiftly bring about the sudden and abrupt collapse of cities, highways, railways, airports and electrical grids (not to mention the chaos that would ensue from cities competing to regain these monolithic empires ) then the sudden appearance “theme park” size campuses built around the fact that these corporations would almost certainly receive the land, buildings and titles for almost nothing in exchange for the promise of work for the locals.<br /> I’m not against incentives for getting companies to set up shop in industrial areas that already exist. I’m just certain that we can do this differently – better – if we do it right this time.<br />I have been a strong proponent since early 2007 of the “extended depression”. I believe that our economy, no matter what occurs, will not see its bottom until 2012. I have even factored in the consideration that at one point in our economic slide (which seems to be now) it would become just as economically feasible to offer the outsourced jobs to a desperately and deeply compromised unemployed America as it would to offer those jobs to India or China. We need the jobs but we can’t handle the influx of these workers on our roads, in our cities and over the course of our antiquated infrastructure. If we bring these jobs back with the mindset that Fortune America had when it left, we will inadvertently sign away our frail economic recovery. Things are going to change and, in this case, they will not change for the better. If their coming home ends up being a financial miscalculation on their part do you think they will end up paying for it?<br />Trickle Up and Then Tumble Down<br /><br />Unfortunately, any disaster to Fortune companies eventually craters the American economic landscape (at least this is true so far – I believe I hold a significant alternate theory based on my predictive models). Here’s the most ironic aspect to this whole insourcing probability; as Fortune companies return home, the initial inflight will at first seem like a boom to our prosperity. The fact is that it is a bust waiting to implode. The effect of these jobs coming home without serious modification to the current corporate America model is based on the anticipated corporate premise that they can fill huge call centers with immensely overqualified people to work the phones. This will backfire on them in the middle of our recovery (and that word “recovery” will take on new meaning by 2012) in and about 2015 as literally tens of thousands of highly skilled workers abandon these monster call centers to accept more fitting work opportunities while compensating their expertise and salary expectations. <br /><br />Trickle up and then tumble down (as I call it)- the result of more economic woes that will be the cause of a deafening crash and an even more substantial setback to any serious recovery. This time we will have isolated another even more fragile element of our society and those people now just hanging on by the tips of their fingers will be washed away in a tsunami of economic recession. Ultimately this perplexing cycle will once again creep up the ladder of our society and wreak havoc on a beleaguered middle America.<br /><br />Keep in mind I feel like Paul Revere as I scream “things will never be the same…things will never be the same!” But, <br />the cruel, hard fact is that they will never be the same and deep down I think most Americans have accepted that. The last thing we need are the frighteningly simple minded corporate leaders making a wholesale decision to pepper our landscape with jobs they “think” they can steal for pennies on the dollar from desperate Americans. But not long after the call centers are abandoned and skilled help is not available at bargain basement wages, these giant entities will collapse like edge of the tide sand castles and, once again, we will have the domino effect on business. If we as Americans have not learned from our mistakes, be sure CEOs of these mega-conglomerates have learned less - and they learn at a slower rate.<br /><br />Tethered Communities - The Future of Business in America<br /><br />While the overall economic global picture for markets will grow exceedingly dim, the average American will have (and in many ways already has) readjusted. We are sleeker, trimmed down and more prepared to weather the storm of this economy knowing that at some point jobs must come back or corporations will have essentially said to the world “we have no buyers!” Nothing has become more visible to politics and business than the understanding that the bottom line for every company - no matter what they do, make, service or sell - eventually comes down to how much they sell their product or service for and what they NET off those sales or services. Like the young actress once said “it isn’t rock science!” And, no I didn’t misspell or misquote - that it is the actual quote (I will spare her name because – well – we all make those errors when standing on the red carpet- I guess).<br /><br />So, in what will be a snide bit of twisted irony, American corporations who have bankrupted the country in search of the ever important “profit” have left in their wake a society that has no intentions of being put in such a position again. As they migrate back to the country they abandoned and the millions of Americans they left stranded without hope of income, they may want to rethink how they are going to plant their flag this time around. I have some suggestions, and I am certain of three things –<br />Number one: Large corporations became large corporations because at one time they were innovative. <br />Number two: Large corporations, when they become large corporations, cease being innovative.<br />Number three: Large corporations will have to once again become innovative if they have any hope of remaining viable in the 21st century.<br /><br />What we can hope for is that we can offer returning corporations an alternative to their current business modeling by absorbing these jobs by using a combination of what I call “Tethered Communities “ and “Smart Space” work environments.<br /><br />We at The Bosson Group understand how to take these insourced jobs and allocate their location, structure, management, analysis and technological needs based on detailed quantification of time, productivity and cost allocation. The “Tethered Community” emerges through a series of tests, analysis and position charting that will allow any workforce to reduce it’s on site needs for personnel by as much as 20%. A “Tethered Community”, using corporate locations with “Smart Spaces” (multiple personnel offices, etc.), will allow these corporations to relocate (insource) without pressing the equivalent of a nuclear footprint on our country.<br /><br />Positions carefully constructed to work from homes; small satellite offices and even piggybacked desks will mean that major companies can bring in tens of thousands of jobs for a fraction of what it would cost them to simply reset the clock and bring back all the cubicles, desks and real estate that have already once been made to stand empty and abandoned. <br /><br />The questions are hardly rhetorical and the correct answers will have a profound, positive impact on how corporate America proceeds into the 21st century with a new business model. They only have to ask themselves: <br /><br />1. Do you really want all that real estate again?<br />2. What if going green was profitable as well as responsible?<br />3. Can you hope to keep these talented people caged up in call centers when the economy recovers?<br />4. What if you staff your company and save 40% on employee costs right up front without government regulations, long term contracts or minimum employment numbers?<br />5. Why not take advantage of the technology you yourselves created to do exactly what you created the technology to do?<br />A well thought out and efficiently deployed “Tethered Community” by The Bosson Group means:<br /><br />• Thousands of jobs returning without the onerous employee costs Fortune companies must absorb<br />• The ability to control and significantly eliminate the pressure such returning positions would place on our country’s already failing infrastructure <br />• Savings in the tens of millions of dollars every day on precious fossil fuels<br />• An almost incalculable reduction in carbon emissions<br />• Less strain on employees commuting to and from locations through gridlock, making a friendlier, more personal work environment<br />• Smarter use of real estate leading to significant reductions in building, supporting, taxing and maintaining new developments<br />• Redesigning the American workforce to become flexible, mobile and global without ever having left the country to be competitive<br /><br />For the record, whether you are a returning global competitor or a company in long term good standing on American soil, my concepts of “Tethered Communities” and “Smart Spaces” are effective and viable alternatives that can save you millions of dollars a year. And, if you’re a company on your way up in your market and you need to add people or consider expansion, The Bosson Group can show you how to consolidate your power to become more efficient while producing greater net profits. I’ve put a good deal of thought into this and I am asking corporate America, as they return, to do the same. <br /><br />In God We Trust<br />Frank Bosson<br />CEO, The Bosson GroupThe Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-41724962074827279752010-09-02T15:11:00.000-07:002010-09-02T15:13:47.613-07:00Where do I put my money?<br /> <br />When I last wrote to you (just before summer 2010) I warned that summer was going to reveal the depth of troubles ingrained within the economics of the late great America. As we emerge from the summer the reality of our situation has certainly become more grisly, not just for Americans but for the entire world population. The stock market cannot recover, jobs continue to decline, the average yearly American earnings continue a downward spiral and fraud in corporate America is rampant. I said we would have to face the grim reality by summer’s end but I meant only that we would finally have to tell ourselves, “Okay we’re in this for the long haul. How do we make things work with what bits of this industry and bits of that industry remain?” I did not mean, nor have I ever thought, that we were literally going to face some kind of end time.<br />The economics of a country are like their vital organs and as each shuts down (for us this is caused by a toxic combination of bad politics and broken business) we witness the lifeblood of this country ebb away. Massive declines in manufacturing, natural disasters, war, famine and a chilling realization that the things we have come to rely on are the very things that have turned against us make the trial of the times clear but not apocalyptic. We were smokers and gluttons feasting on the corpse of a rotting world, and it was just a matter of time before we sunk to their level. And, like sin crouching at our door waiting for us, the venture vultures could hardly wait for us to drop to our knees to sink their teeth into us. All of this may make it look like the doomsday predictions seem almost inevitable, but they are not. <br />The end of our economic structure is not the end of the world; at least it doesn’t have to be. The final moments of our economic doomsday will be more of a gentle slide then a giant thud. After all we have been adjusting to the variations in our lifestyles for the better part of four years already and by 2012 we will have been in a global systematic failure for six years. This is more like starvation than death by a bullet. You don’t just wake up the morning after your last can of beans and drop over…it’s just the beginning of another kind of end.<br />In that way things are better than you should expect. Truly things will get worse…much worse…before they get better, but we will adjust. We will train ourselves to endure more and find new models to follow - models of virtue and not avarice. We will, hopefully, return to the values that made this country what it was at its apex. We will hold our families closer, our relationships will have more value, a dollar will mean something and a hard day’s work will be the feeling of a good day’s fatigue. The day may be coming when we start them on our knees and not on our Blackberries. A little prayer time would make us a whole lot stronger.<br />Only God knows when the world will end, not the Mayans or Nostradamus or the Hopi or your corner Palm Reader. We need to tune out our self-proclaimed prophets of the people like Oprah Winfrey and her companion in lunacy Sylvia Brown or the mesmerizing but fundamentally challenged Joel Osteen spreading their beguiling delusions of false spirituality or gospels of prosperity. This country is made of more than a handful of self-made billionaires whose actual life stories play out more like a Stephen King horror novel than a Frank Capra hero flick. Greed, loathing, deception and victory at any cost, including the sacrifice of self-redemption or the values that make such victories worth claiming, are hollow and unworthy of our applause. <br />So, the end of this time will come and it will skid to a halt slowly and irreparably by the end of 2012 according to my numbers. But by then we will have grown accustomed to lowering the heat and air, walking a little more than driving, praying a little more than preaching and caring a little more than collecting. We will have to start again in a whole different world - but we will start again. We’ve had monsters under our beds before and we will have them again. The great generation of World War II is passing into the deep, long night but perhaps another great generation is looming on the horizon. <br />So when I was walking the concourse with my placard in hand, warning that the end was coming, my sign may have been wrong. Well, not wrong - but misinterpreted. I didn’t mean the end kind of an end but rather the beginning of a new story. Things are actually better than I expected – although most of that is either a fluke (see my notes on natural disasters below) or a deliberate messy cash infusion from the government (see my notes on that also). Since 2006 (actually to be more precise, I began writing publicly on the subject of the American economic situation in April 2007) my conclusions have been accurate because I am not basing them on the traditional economic formulas we have used over the last forty years. Contrary to some remarks, I don’t get any pleasure out of announcing these predictions...I am as horrified as you! Isn’t it better to be prepared for what our world will look like in three years then to buy into the "everything will turnaround once again" theory? <br />I am becoming a topic of conversation to more people because more people are arriving at a place where they are beginning to doubt the voices that have guided them for the last five decades. Many of these people are neither clients nor associates – so my words have certainly spread. I am, apparently, gaining a wide audience - which is something I never sought to do nor am I comfortable knowing that it is occurring. <br />Regardless of the “flukes”, I am not retracting my third quarter 2012 bottom; I am simply saying that new factors seem to indicate that we will be better prepared than I initially anticipated. We will have had ample time to re-establish a new economic reality by the time we run our course. That it is dragging along as it is turns out to be a good thing.<br />Flukes<br />1. I am relatively certain that our President intends to release much of that three trillion dollars he allocated sometime in 2011(re-election needs) which will artificially inflate our wealth. Sadly, unless President Obama somehow becomes much more business savvy then he has proven to date, this infusion of lots of cash will be absorbed by the rich and never have a lasting effect on the average American worker. Nor will that money circulate long enough to sustain its own value (I’ll talk about that phenomena later in this series) and have a positive, lasting impact on the working American and our long term economic picture.<br />2. In April 2007 my paper “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel….run!” predicted that the end of this mess would occur no sooner than the summer of 2012. My exact words then were… “that (summer 2012) may even be a little optimistic”. I use my own “exclusive” quantitative process - nTelegenz™ (more on this later in the paper) to arrive at my conclusions. My formula anticipates everything from economic markers to natural disasters as elements in my analysis – but (and here it gets tricky), my process is a business production and analytics system designed to be spot on accurate up to three years out on data for random events like natural disasters. Because I am not an economist and no economist has ever been to the economic place we are going to be in 2012, with the end so far out from what my analysis accurately details, I could not know with any certainty (nor can anyone else) that my “rate of occurrence” for elements like earthquakes, hurricanes, wars, etc. could sustain itself beyond my three years. My formulas were meant to analyze up to a three year period. I was saying in 2007 that the bottom would not be evident until 2012. As we approach my markers and they remain true and consistent, it’s my belief that my analysis remains unquestionably valid. But natural disasters are a wild card and remain a fluke in my analysis no matter how I re-run the numbers. After all, who could have predicted BP’s oil spill in the Gulf, right? <br />So…to the point<br />In the four years since I started making my predictions it seems now I am being asked for more than analysis of the future markets. The number one question I get asked is “Where should I put my money?”<br />The answer is simple, even if the process by which I acquire my results is anything but simple. During the years prior to 2006, I had concocted my own quantitative process for the evaluation of a client’s market position to coincide with strategies which would Break]<br />1.) Reduce company costs while creating a more fluid and adaptable business environment<br />2.) Structure an ongoing growth anticipation and cost control strategy<br />3.) Increase sales through a combination of thorough market analysis, closing techniques and eclectic marketing processes singular to the client’s particular parameters<br />Over the course of a decade I honed this proprietary process to behave in the manner of an economic predictor. Normally I use my formula (nTelegenz(tm) to put my clients unto a playing field in which they are the lopsided favorites to win contracts, increase distributor sales, reduce costs and create a sleeker, far more efficient business profile. I look at my programming as a break through in business genetics. I approach my client’s position in the market the way an aeronautics engineer looks at designing a jet fighter for speed and stealth. Converting it (nTelegenz(tm)) at least in part to act as my own economic predictions model was done to make my programming more accurate over the long haul for my clients. My programs make businesses more competitive in tougher economies and the addition of this piece made sense for that purpose. It is now becoming something of its own command and providing authoritative disclosures for independent economic objectives.<br />The long and short of this is that I can and do populate a number of specific and non-specific data fields (recent events, natural disasters, market history, competitor structure, people, etc.) which allow me to identify the problems solely unique to my client. The mirror image of my work shows me the place, methods, modes and madness that my client will exploit to carve out their share of the market. At the same time the process allows me to map out a strategy using both a traditional and non-traditional approach that moves my client to occupy unchallenged frequencies of communication with their buyers; accelerating their sales and reducing company costs (the principle of “less friction brings about faster acceleration”). Using this process I have almost always been correct (no one is perfect) and flawless in my strategies. <br />As it turned out, my last client brought me into the heart of the mortgage banking business where I polished my skills and techniques while educating myself on the work of an economist. I will not slander the work or the efforts of the really honest and clever economists – no one can dispute the years of education and devotion one must have to become successful in this field. But, and I say this with the utmost respect, I have always and continue to state simply that, in my opinion, the reason today’s economists continue to make awful and clearly inaccurate predictions stems more from the fact that they are approaching the problem incorrectly then they have previously been and this economic collapse has merely exposed them for what they are. They are now more like weathermen in how they go about what they do and how they conclude what they see. I say this because they are using an incorrect set of questions, populating the wrong fields of data and arriving at conclusions that have nothing to do with our current reality.<br />They do not know what will happen next because at every turn in today’s economy we arrive at a place we have never been before. <br />Look it at like this –all economists use a very similar formula (very much the same for each with tweaks and slight variations on the theme to favor their peculiar idiosyncratic views). This sort of thinking has, until now, produced acceptable levels of accuracy - sort of like a weatherperson viewing a particular cloud cover and anticipating what should be the normal weather for that day. But, say that same weatherman was unaware of the earthquake that would consume the area at the same time the rainstorm hit. No one could blame him or her for not anticipating an earthquake. No…of course not! But what they can expect is that once the earthquake becomes a factor they would have the common sense to change the weather report to reflect the impact of the quake at least through the life of the seismic event and the time immediate following. For as long as the quake impacts the area it impacts the weather in that area as well. <br />Economists are simply denying or are unaware there has been an economic earthquake. As long as they ignore the immense and ongoing damage from the quake and continue to give us weather updates that exclude the gaping hole in the center of our village they will never get the magnitude or the extent of the economic ruin we are finding ourselves buried beneath. All of this leaves me with my formula which was first created to work in a competitive environment rife with change and unexpected interruptions, interferences and influences. My process is data rich, mathematical and observational; structured to work in a highly unpredictable and dynamic environment. It isn’t a “fill in the blanks” process - it’s a hands-on and minds-in game of business chess. <br />My program incorporates a host of unusual parameters normally not associated with the traditional data common to the field of economists. My conclusions result from data and performance as they relate to the American industry (historical commonalities and evolving social and business trends), sales, marketing and even employment. It wasn’t long after I started to use my own quantitative formula in 2006-07 that I could see the popular economists, who were predicting all sorts of recovery dates from late summer 2007 to early 2010 while revising their predictions as each economic marker passed, that I finally understood they had no clue what they were talking about. <br />That brings me to the question at hand and where I stand on any answer. More Americans are emptying their savings, raiding retirement funds, finding their home values upside down, dipping into Social Security just to stay afloat and unable to find any source that can give them definitive answers on questions ranging from “How bad will this get?” to “What will our economy look like in 2012?”<br />I can’t tell you that and no one else on earth can either. We, as a global population have never been where we are going. It means that as many adjustments as we will need to make, we will make. As much as we need to bend we will bend. But in truth, only God knows whether we will simply bend or whether we will break. <br />Matthew 24<br /> 36"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father. 37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.<br />So, to answer those who ask me…”Where should I put my money?”, let’s wait and see what money is left in 2012 and what that money is worth. Avoid debt, pay down outstanding high interest obligations and, if you can work and you can find work, go back to work until we not only bottom out (2012) but for up to five years beyond as we fabricate our new economic language. Pray if you are so fortunate to have faith in these difficult times I know it helps me. Keep your eye on my blog and I will reveal more about how I come to know what I know and what more there is for you to know.<br />Frank Bosson (From his series “A New Day Dawns…Sort Of!” CEO, The Bosson Group frankb@thebossongroup.com www.thebossongroup.comThe Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-48124860731237734472010-05-22T21:20:00.000-07:002010-05-24T19:54:12.999-07:00As an American citizen I have the right to choose whichever candidate I believe to be the right person in whatever capacity they are petitioning to assume – whether in Congress, the State Capitol, the City Council or even the Presidency. My choice is my business and as a voter I respect the fact that this privacy is the right afforded all voters. The moment the elections are over, the person who occupies that seat in government from President down to County Sheriff becomes the person I pray for. It is my belief as Christian that if a man or woman has been elected it is more than the will of the people; it is the will of our Creator. We are required by our faith to not only pray but to support and challenge him or her to make decisions as they affect people, knowing that even as the President of the United States, he has a boss (God). That’s what we believe.<br /><br />So look beyond the messenger here and into the message. Government is notoriously slow catching up with the real needs in American society. I know a good deal of people who think all politicians are dishonest or at least most and there is a good deal of evidence to support that theory. But they are not all dishonest and not always incompetent. They are dreadfully slow in finding the corrective actions that our society needs to stop the financial losses and cure rampant unemployment. But that is typically because few if any have had any real life business experience.<br /><br />Here President Obama is stating what has become the obvious if not elusive answer; work from home. Once again we are talking about what we can see (I say “we” because I am certain, like every other politician in the White House that preceded him, that Obama had some help putting this speech together - whether directly or indirectly). The real need is to not just get people to work from home; it is to expand the corporate mindset to envision a world where companies are not defined by the real estate they inhabit; a thought process that sees beyond cubicles and walls.<br /><br />As we enter these last few years of what I am touting as the global “economic clock reset”, we will emerge as a country that will either be in the process of redefining the classic roles of employment or we will be members of a evolutionary group that has already embraced the idea of “corporations without walls”. These companies will have in place:<br />• Strict but fair guidelines for interpreting job functions that can be “webbed” in<br />• Tested personalities that will succeed from home<br />• Structured remote environment specifics that assure that functions are properly equipped and environed<br />• Transition services to smoothly help move people to homes and homes to connect to corporations<br />• Management processes that can account for time remotely and make at-home people feel included on the company team (sports, weekly attended meetings, a desk visit every week, etc.)<br />• Accountability and predictability in work performance through processes and programs that include quantitative evaluations and insightful observation<br />• Policy and procedures to managed tethered communities<br /><br />But these programs will not materialize on their own accord. The fact that we are sending people home to work is not necessarily going to, in itself, design an intelligently functional and remote workforce. In fact, letting it evolve on its own will do just the opposite, creating a disparate patchwork of people and functions that vary without reason or deliberation. Then corporations will be making each new at-home position one of chance and inferiority. You would no more break ground on a building by starting with the roof then you should enter into the grand transformation of telecommuting by arbitrarily and capriciously sending people home.<br /><br />The perspective and programs for such a complex reshaping in workspaces and workforces has to be the result of an enlightened and capable group specializing in the development of at-home communities. If we can all conclude that there needs to be some fundamental changes to the way we approach, retain and maintain workforces and in how we make abstract departments like sales and marketing more predictable and computable, then we have to look for the solution programs that bring the requisite skill sets to each uniquely staffed and singular corporate culture.<br /><br />We are at a crossroads and we are locked in gridlock. Entire populations are stranded miles from declining business centers; where there is work, travel to and from city and suburb has become a national nightmare. Sprawling campuses once built to house more relaxed work centers by developing our buildings around zip codes empty out as the economy declines. Following this, the zip codes become vacant of the talent that these companies once needed and will once again look for in their resurgence.<br /><br />So, as we strain to incorporate - into the pre-2006 thinking - the real estate solution for American employment- as reasonable as it sounded less than a decade ago- we realize that it is sorely out of date with what we know about employees and employment today. Instead of trying to fit the square peg into the round hole, why we don’t we just acquiesce to the obvious future employment template of telecommuting and telesales? Just take a deep breath and begin the metamorphosis into what we can easily predict of a process which will:<br />• Move with the corporation anywhere on the globe<br />• Expand and contract without the need for extraneous real estate<br />• Insure that key talent will always remain with the same company, eliminating the crushing cost of re-hiring and re-training<br />• Link disparate elements of the company’s core talent through the population of relevant and ubiquitous technology<br />• Significantly reduce costs allowing corporations to hire Americans and remain competitive globally while providing more money for the research and development departments where we can use our ingenuity and renown genius to maintain a leadership role throughout global markets<br /><br />Sometimes we get so close to the problem we can’t see the forest through the trees. We must reset our now archaic concepts of where and how corporations look and work to transform ourselves into something more malleable and expeditive: a community without a doubt more competitive. No matter what you think of our President, his message is timely. Those who cannot hear this will end up struggling to manage an accidentally pockmarked work from home community by default. Or, you can make sure that from the onset you are in control of the how, why, where and when the tethered community will grow so that you maintain control over every aspect of its evolution. It won’t be something you have to fix tomorrow…it will be something fixed today to work tomorrow.<br /><br />Sounds like a no brainer.<br /><br />Frank Bosson<br />CEO, The Bosson Group<br />The Bosson Group<br /><em>Reshaping the way America works...</em><br /><a href="http://www.thebossongroup.com/">www.thebossongroup.com</a><br /><br />Psalm 33:12<br />Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord<br />(don't you just love psalms)<br /><br /><a href="mailto:frankb@thebossongroup.com">frankb@thebossongroup.com</a><br />209 642 2821<br /><br />The Bosson Group provides a complete solutions package for the design and execution of telecommuting for corporate America. Blending research, testing, management and technology, we can offer you a complete solution for your telecommuting needs from consultation to execution including our own remote management programs for your new 1099 contractors. We will incorporate a connected culture with specific rules, processes, technological structural elements and routine self-reconciling assessments. Combining our exclusive quantitative and observational tool nTelegenz™ with practical experience, we can provide your company with a stable telecommuting environment that can flex with the growth or compression of all economic demands.<br /><br />The Bosson Group understands the needs and technology of today’s workplace and we are constantly working with, and researching out, what workplaces and technology will look like in the future. We are with you today and tomorrow to solve your evolving business model evolutions; keeping one step ahead of what you can and will provide your remote workforce.The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-42312980410257336632010-04-28T21:11:00.000-07:002010-04-28T21:13:23.243-07:00The Summer of 2011<br /><br />What will it be remembered for? I’m afraid that it will be remembered for the final revelation of all that is corrupt about us and in us. Bumper stickers and pale entreaties from people who can do much but do little more than talk will quietly run its course. Goldman Sachs cries foul and the SEC flounders with guppies chasing sharks as a corrupt government hides the massive decay in our banking system and our overall investment packages crumble like the sand castles that house them. The rich see the writing on the wall and abandon the stock market, Wall Street loses confidence and the general state of the economy is revealed for the ravaged condition it hides and we finally tip the scales.<br /><br />The end? Hardly. It’s the beginning of a long, slow reconstruction. It is the day that America stops hiding behind its pomposity and decadence and gets down to the business of rebuilding this country. I have no doubt we will do just that. We have no worries of utter collapse and chaos – nor do we need to worry about some imminent invasion. As we go so goes the world. In some ways it is a sad epitaph but it is certainly no reflection on the great generations that built this country.<br /><br />I remember the summer of 1963 when I was just 12 years old and Pope John XXIII died. That was huge to me and millions of Catholics who loved him as he brought us the Second Vatican Council and the beginning. His vision for the church maintained the dignity of the older generation’s piety, which I so loved as an altar boy and seminarian, but brought to the youth of the world a new evangelism. The population of the world was about half of what it is today at just over 3 billion and the United States had 189 million people. So when we said the world was smaller then, it was - smaller by size and by how far and just how much you could communicate with people further than a few miles away, never mind across the globe. The dreaded Dodgers beat the Yankees in just four games but our beloved Boston Celtics beat the newly California based L.A. Lakers. Late that same summer Martin Luther King Jr. marched on Washington and delivered his “I have a dream” speech.<br /><br />On June 26th the President we all so loved, John F Kennedy, delivered his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in West Berlin during a 4-day visit to West Germany. Later that year, but not much later, in November in the far west city of Dallas, our President was shot and killed…by a lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald, who despite buying his Italian made rifle through the mail, shot to kill three times from six hundred feet away and six stories up. I’m a really good a shot and I couldn’t do that with my rifle and it’s got a five hundred dollar scope. The Beatles swept America, Doris Day stole my heart, “It’s My Party” by Leslie Gore hit number one on my birthday, June 1st, and the summer ended with “My Boyfriend’s Back” by the Angels. I remember I had a crush on my babysitter – Denise Anazesky.<br /><br />It was a great summer for horseback riding, sneaking into drive-in movies, swimming in the lake and the start of kissing girls. In reflection I guess we should have known the end was coming when it became unconstitutional and therefore against the law to say the Lord’s Prayer in school. Some people I know never lived to understand that…I have lived longer than I wish to see what the beginning of that meant in the way of losing our faith and our constitutional connection to God. I love my Lord and God…I love Jesus Christ and I know what that means and it doesn’t have anything to do with loving a guy who lived two thousand years ago – well, not in the way people who don’t love Him think. Anyway, 1963 was another summer in the endless days of glory post World War II.<br /><br />I was born to a smaller world in a simpler America. In 1963 we were still an emerging power from World War II. We had converted 250 billion dollars in manufacturing assemblies of war into factories that produced refrigerators, cars, stereos and everything a rebuilding world needed. I was a young man during that summer when we were still trying to supply a consuming country and hungrier world. And, of course, I was a young man when that world hunger ran its course and America’s factories were all of sudden antiquated and Japan was beginning to dominate the market. I was a working man when America suddenly stopped competing and started hoarding, hating and mortgaging its future.<br /><br />So I asked myself what it was like in the summer of 1869 when Goldman Sachs was founded. The population of the United States was only 38 million people, up 7 million from 1860 - mostly because of the influx of poor immigrants. But the population explosion corresponded with an economic boom not altogether like the boom of the 1990’s. Both booms were fueled largely by the government. Obviously the railroad boom f the 1860’s had significantly different consequences than the bust of the dot com. In 1869 a rail line from Sacramento, California crossed the Rockies and connected a rail line from Omaha, Nebraska at Promontory Point, Utah. This was the start of the Great Transcontinental Railway. The industrial revolution was underway; something historians mostly agree was one of the top ten events in the history of mankind.<br /><br />Today I am standing on the edge of the end. Goldman Sachs was accused of fraud. Simply put, the SEC says they deliberately sold financial products (specifically bad mortgages) so that some people would profit and others would be left holding an empty bag. The government controls something like ninety percent of the banks and won’t divulge their business or the government’s business in the banks to the public. So, this thing with Goldman Sachs is either an anomaly or the tip of a very ugly iceberg. Which do you suppose it is?<br /><br />I know it was a long time ago that this great society seemed to awake on the shores of the northeast but we were never anything more than what we are. The only color that matters is the color that profits the greater community. There are millions of people struggling on the fringe of our society (black – white - red - brown – grey – whatever) and just barely getting by with the help of thousands of good hearted and decent Americans. But there is a tidal wave coming and those on the fringe will not be able to get out of the way. Those people hanging on by their fingertips will be sucked under this great ugly end. We, the people, will be angry and outraged at all this screaming at one another - “how could such terrible avarice be tolerated for so long?” But, in the end, we will be so busy scooping water out of our own sinking dingy to do anything more than be aghast.<br /><br />How I miss those misty hot summer days when a Coca Cola was a quarter and a Big Meal was when we all got together over Sunday dinner. I’m glad I have those memories though. I will need them soon. They will be much of what I and most Americans like myself will have little left of the great society. I feel sorry for those people who don’t have at least those memories. So here’s to the end my friend. At least the end of the way we have been living and the beginning of something altogether new. I’m not sure what it will look like in the next five years. but I can tell you this…if we don’t start learning to play together fairly and nicely it will get real ugly, real quick.<br /><br /><strong>Frank Bosson</strong>, CEO The Bosson Group excerpt from his paper<em> “I’m drowning…someone throw me a rock!”<br /></em>The Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379598767261657279.post-40986508424275846732010-04-19T08:52:00.000-07:002010-04-19T08:56:51.737-07:00Too Little Too LateToo little to date?<br /><br />So nobody can say I didn’t warn them…I have and will continue to do just that. The passage of what is being touted as healthcare reform in America is probably the most destructive policy ever introduced by our government any time in our history. Not only is the program itself a boondoggle but it’s a policy catastrophe waiting to be perpetrated on an American public that, I can only suspect, is by now like a drowning person resigned to their fate. <br /><br />Not only is this healthcare reform a total debacle that will never see the light of day but it has totally consumed our seemingly detached President and Legislature from doing what we elected them to do in the first place – find jobs. Get America back to work Mr. Obama and then if you have time and you want to discuss health reform fine – start with your own house and give up smoking! Here’s a guy purportedly so understanding of the health care needs of Americans that he devotes nearly half his presidency to creating a Frankenstein bill (a bill made up so many different parts and pardons that it clearly is a grotesque mutilation of any really good idea that it might first have resembled ). But forget that for a moment. Is healthcare the number one concern of Americans today? NO! By an overwhelming majority, Americans are worried about JOBS!<br /><br />Okay, that said. I have constantly warned you about the complete failure of our American markets by 2012. It is time to start setting some milestones. To be fair I can only predict far into the future and then I have to wait for those “event horizons” I keep going on about. The healthcare bill is not the domino that will cause the fall of all the others. Not so much by what it will impact, because like I said, this thing will never get out of the lab let alone be permitted to impact any population, at least by any responsible state legislature, but rather for what it failed to do – get America back to work. Like my daddy used to say the easiest way to get out of debt is to never get into it. That being said the next best thing from preventing a collapse of the country is not to spend more money but to make more money. And, no Mr. Obama, I don’t mean literally “make” more money as in print it. I mean “make” as in earn it.<br /><br />Sadly, Washington is so consumed with this totally irrelevant black hole of idiocy that it has failed to note the country was gathering steam for a collapse in banking, markets and credit, the liked of which it has never seen before and will probably never recover enough to see again.<br /><br />I am not going to bore you with the entire minutia because frankly there is simply too much to talk about in any one paper. The banks have been sitting on an investment from the treasury that was supposed to bail the country out, but banks are notoriously shortsighted. The fact is that they held on to the money until they inadvertently used it up – I am saying that the next brick to hit the glass will be the banks. The top investment banks will start crying ‘insolvent” in the summer of 2011 or as late as the fall of that same year. The persistent and totally underestimated joblessness will cause the next major shutter when consumer purchasing will cease. The final nail in the proverbial coffin will be the insolvency of the government after running up a four trillion dollar. For you bad on math if a million seconds ago was just 12 days and a billion seconds was only about 32 years then a trillion seconds ago was almost 32,000 years ago. Any of this sinking in? Well let me help you. If the United States could pay back this debt at a billion dollars a year it would take more time than it took for the universe to form. When I say a billion dollars a year in payback of course it would have to be surplus. But what if we don’t have a billion dollars a year in surplus income to pay this debt? Well, what would happen if you borrowed a million dollars and the loan shark came looking for you because you couldn’t come up with an extra $100,000 a year (that’s on top of all the income you need to survive that year)? You would find yourself between a rock and a hard place that is exactly where we will be when the clock strikes midnight and 2011 rolls over to 2012 – broke and with no hope of ever paying back a debt we should have never allowed ourselves to make.<br /><br />Nobody knows for sure what will happen when this occurs. We’ve never been there before. We have been building up to it for decades but the piper has never come looking for his fee. He will. We won’t be able to pay and that’s just the beginning of a grim and disturbing disintegration of the American way of life. The infrastructure will crumble with failing bridges, highways and electric grids. The Internet will become slow and unresponsive and significantly more costly as government and business seek new revenues. Teachers, police, firemen and hospital workers will dwindle to below emergency levels. Crime will rise as will disease and finally, in the greatest irony of all, the voracious greed that marked the era of the baby boomer will catch up with them as they age (and age poorly) with no money for their care and a generation of their children who could care less (yes, even less than they did) the Baby Boomers will make a very messy fuss in their sad and dismal departure.<br /><br />You may have heard that all the mega-stars of Hollywood have long ago found new digs in places like southern France and Tuscany. They can read the handwriting on the wall. They love the money we give them but frankly the neighborhood is a bit rundown for their tastes. Moving to more pristine views with less rubble and poor relatives hanging about is simply more comfortable. They have made peace with the fact that the money train may soon come to an end but they have enough stowed away to keep their chestnuts roasting for as long as they live…so what’s to worry about for Brad Pitt and Angie Jolie visiting with Clooney and Depp over a bottle of Chianti?<br /><br />I know this harsh visit to reality will be troublesome for some and ridiculous to others but it is the reality nonetheless. I don’t know if there is anything to be done about this seemingly inevitable ending but, voting all those idiots out of Congress is a good start. Even if we can’t save ourselves we can put those thieves in the same sinking rowboat. However, I think Americans have suffered too much shell shock to rebound from the epic travesty of poor government and greedy corporations. I think we are just going to let the car roll off the cliff. I don’t know about you but when I go I want to go like my grandfather…in his sleep; not like the passengers in his car kicking and screaming.<br /><br />So get ready for the banks to start folding in summer 2011.<br /><br /><strong>Frank Bosson, CEO The Bosson Group</strong> excerpt from his paper <em>“If you think it’s darkest before dawn…watch Congress pass a bill on a sunny spring day!”</em><br />For other papers including:<br /><em>“If it looks like a duck…shoot it!” </em><br /><em>“Knock...knock…whose there?” </em><br /><em>“Billionaires and politicians are on your side…the side where you keep your wallet!” </em><br /><em>“Didn’t I just ask you for the money?”</em><br /><em>“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, run for your life!”</em><br />Request copies from frankb@thebossongroup.comThe Bosson Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579590214266935889noreply@blogger.com0