Water, Water Everywhere!

My Sweetie and I started drinking Le Bleu bottled water a couple of years ago. The taste of this water (distilled and filtered in the Carolinas!) is so pure that we won't drink anything else. Several weeks ago we were approached by Le Bleu to distribute their water through a private label program (THEIR water with YOUR name on it). We were delighted! The BEST water with a SUPER BONUS...since Le Bleu is covering most of the Carolinas with their 5-gallon service trucks they can deliver water for our clients (in most counties) FREE of CHARGE! Check out the our short VIDEO clip featuring our highly paid professionals.

Le Bleu was recently voted the "BEST Non-Alcoholic Beverage in the Western Hemisphere" at the International Food and Beverage Trade Show in Miami and better than that....if you have connections in high places (that would be your friends at Neat Stuff U.), you can try Le Bleu's 5-gallon service in your home or business for a month.....FREE!

Tech - knowledge - E?

.....trying to do a little word play on "technology"....not sure it will have the impact I'm looking for...but it does take me to a question: What technology are you currently employing that is making you more effective, more efficient? What new technology do you want to put in place in 2008?

Here are a few things we're learning from and trying to utilize at Neat Stuff U.

1-Video. A friend of mine recently told me that a picture is worth a 1000 words and a video is worth a 1000 pictures. At an industry show in January, a colleague introduced me to his FLIP Camera by Pure Digital. (This was right after a stirring Bobby Lehew seminar, by the way). In the last 60 days, I've "made movies" of a regional industry trade show, several new product lines, an interview with our Cutter & Buck rep on the new 2008 line, a men's retreat in the mountains of Virginia, and a trip to UNCW to see my sweet daughter, Anna! Pretty simple...software is built into the unit and it connects directly to your computer without any cables! Using Windows Movie Maker (on most new computers), you can add Titles, Credits, music, and witty comments scrolling across the screen!

How can you use video? Something to think about. Video clients that you go to see. Clients that come to see you. Send a video follow-up to your meeting. Send a copy to folks who missed the meeting. Show a new product. Video industry trade show. Video your support staff that your clients chat with but never see. Roll play presentations. Tips from top performers to send to the rest of the sales gang. Add video to your website - experts tell us that the Search Engines love video! I just did a Google Search on some industry key words and found our company in the TOP TEN from a video we put on YouTube a couple of weeks ago. Check out this 60-second promo we produced in our Men's Restroom! It's scary but clean.

2-Paying Verizon or AT&T for 411 info? Stop that. Program "800-GOOG-411" into your speed dial and use it, for FREE-thanks to Google- for your phone number searches. After they give you the number, you can say "text" for a text message of the number or "map" for, you guessed it, a map of the location....sent right to your cell phone. Cool. Save those quarters. They turn into dollars. (My dad just told me his cell service charges a BUCK for each directory info inquiry!)

3-Google 2. Have you explored Google? Seems like they come up with new stuff everyday. My brother Scott Maxwell, the custom home builder extraordinaire, mentioned to me over lunch last Sunday that he uses iGoogle (I'd never heard of it) as his home page. You design it to include all kind of useful info, news updates, RSS feeds...it's up to you. Scott also uses the FREE google calendars for a variety of functions including setting up a separate calendar for each job that allows his clients to track the progress on their new home construction.

4-Do you use Microsoft Outlook for your e-mail? Do you get a b-zillion e-mails? These babies will clog your computer if you don't DELETE them. When you DELETE your emails they simply shift to the DELETE FOLDER where you have to ...DELETE them again...unless you know the DSS (Double Secret Shortcut). Identify your e-mail-to-be-deleted, Hit SHIFT while clicking the "X" button, and WHAMMO, the e-mail will be PERMANENTLY deleted. A Microsoft instructor gave us several pages of great tips like this in a Word Document. Email the Chancellor for your FREE copy haines@neatstuffu.com