Advicetap Blog

Today’s guest post was written by long time communications consulting professional Ken Welsh. To find out more about Ken and his years of international business and consulting experience visit www.letstalkcommunication.com

Well, as someone who coaches and consults around the world what should I give you as my first gem? (My parents are opal miners in Australia’s Outback so you may find my using word like, “gem”, “colour”, “dust”, “dirt”, “kangaroo” and “emu” a lot! ) One of my specialities is the power of language (all of our language, verbal, written, body and subliminal) to affect behaviour, so let’s look at a simple principle that has the ability to transform the way that people relate to us.

One of my specialties is the power of language (all of our language, verbal, written, body and subliminal) to affect behaviour, so let’s look at a simple principle that has the ability to transform the way that people relate to us.

Tell them what they CAN do (rather than what they CAN’T).

In a previous incarnation I was a young trainee City Planner, merely one amongst a myriad of other city planners, in a large bureaucracy. Many of my fellow planners were life-termers, they started there, continued there and would likely stay there until retirement. Hey, I’m not knocking it, it was a great job and one that could be made VERY easy by the use of simple words like “NO”, “CAN’T”, “DON’T” and “WON’T”,

Word such as these have the power to do two things:

1. Make some people’s lives very easy (namely the user)
2. Make other people’s lives very hard (namely the use-ee)

This was particularly the case in a large organisation with little or no accountability. Simply say “no” to a development, proposal, plan or idea and you had the power to stifle both it and the ambitions of the person that you said it to. Likewise, as a “decision maker” it was much safer to maintain the status quo by saying “no” than by saying “yes” and needing to deal with the outcome, good or bad. Say “no” and you wouldn’t have to deal with angry neighbours, residents or politicians who didn’t agree with what you’d said “yes” to.

However I was extremely lucky in that I had a rather progressive boss, he wouldn’t let this young trainee say “no”, my only options were – “Approve” or “Defer & Confer”. “Defer & Confer” meant that I had to meet with an applicant, talk with them and see if there was anything that we could do to help the proposal work for everyone concerned. Then, after graduation, I took this approach to my next job and it was incredible how everyone wanted to deal with me – I was the planner who made things work. The quality of my outcomes was no less than adjacent planner’s areas, in fact I think that my area turned out better in many ways (he says modestly!) I was still sticking with the guidelines, however I was telling people what they COULD do rather than what they COULDN’T. (….More)

Introducing Advicetap Drinks…
On April 7th we’re going to have a casual social event  for Advicetap members and friends right here in Vancouver.

Who’s it for?
Advicetap members or any consultants or freelancers interested in joining Advicetap.com.

Where’s it at? (Update)
We had more sign ups for Advicetap Drinks then we anticipated so we’re going to move the get together to Smiley’s Public House starting at 8pm.

Directions
Smiley’s is located at 911 W Pender St downtown not too far from where the F5 Expo is going on. Here’s a map for directions.

Cost
It’s free to attend, you only pay for food and any drinks that you decide to order.

RSVP
Click Here to RSVP»

Welcome to Episode 1 of Advicetap TV!

What in the world is Advicetap TV you ask? Well Advicetap TV is a series of video interviews we’ll be filming and then publishing into this blog. We’ll be chatting with marketing, brand, PR, online business consultants, and more and getting them to reveal tips, insights, thoughts, and more.

This time around we caught up with Internet Marketing Consultant Adam Killam based out of Vancouver, BC. Adam shares what it’s like to be a consultant in this space, the ups, the downs, and even some online marketing tips. Check it out!

For more information or to connect with Adam Killam, check: www.AdamKillam.com

Today’s guest post was written by Tom Searcy member of Advicetap. To find out more about Tom and his years of business and consulting experience visit www.HuntBigSales.com

I have a simple value proposition – I help companies grow explosively. That’s it – My whole focus is on helping companies between $10M and $250M double their double. Double the speed with which they double their company. I don’t focus on culture or Lean manufacturing or technology.

My focus is large account sales – selling deals 10 – 20 times the size of a company’s average size deal. I have developed a process for doing it that really works and has resulted in $3.5 billion in new accounts for the companies I have run and the clients with whom I have consulted.

I have written two books on the subject, “Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company,” and “RFPs Suck!: How to Master the RFP System Once and for All to Land Big Business.” I speak on this subject nationally as well as doing 15-20 consulting contracts per year and a series of workshops.

Candidly, I think that there are a lot of folks like me. The world of author/speaker/consultant is a fairly large fraternity. What I have found that is different is that I built a million dollar business out of it in just a couple of years. That is unusual and I think what I learned on how to do it, (and not do it), might be of interest to you.

You can also go to my website to get lots of extra ideas on landing your own bigger contracts along the way. I’m at www.huntbigsales.com. I look forward to your feedback to my ideas.

Here at Advicetap we’re big believers in quality not quantity. A community with thousands of uninterested ‘low’ quality members delivers far less value than a much smaller community where people are passionate and engaged.

We’re all about the latter. And it’s not just us, Seth Godin talks a great deal about this as an example of the power of Tribes.

That’s why for every 4 people that apply for an Advicetap account we create one. This allows us to ensure a quality community where all members are qualified and professional.

We’re excited to announce that we’re just around the corner to welcoming our 200th member!!

If you’re a consultant or freelancer in the area of Marketing, PR, Branding, Social Media or Online Business come join us. If you’re not … you can still help us spread the word! Sign up here …

Several members gave feedback that they wanted the ability to edit their conversations … say for example when they forgot to include a point they wanted to make. Previously it was tough luck because once you clicked “Add Comment” there was no turning back.

We’re happy to let you know that about a week ago we implemented and have been testing a new update that allows you to edit your conversation for up to 15 minutes after you click and save.

Here’s how it works:

After you’ve added a reply you’ll see the “Edit Reply” link as shown below…

When you click “Edit Reply” you’ll have the ability to edit what you’ve written any way you want, as follows …

Once you’ve updated your comment simply click “Save Changes” and all is good.

Hope you enjoy this update and keep that feedback coming!

Things keep moving along nicely here at Advicetap and we’re constantly making both small and large changes to the design, usability, and overall functionality of the community and application.

Some of you may have noticed that we recently changed up the way email notifications work. Until recently when you received an email inside Advicetap, or someone commented on a conversation you were subscribed to the email notification you got to your external email account like Gmail or Hotmail would just tell you inform you of the action and you would have to log in and go to Advicetap to find out what it was all about.

We have now improved email notifications so that now in all notifications you are able to read the Advicetap email or comment inside your external email client. Simply put you can now decide if you need to log into Advicetap or not to reply to an email or continue a conversation.

A couple of days ago we updated the way you receive emails and notifications from Advicetap.

Email Message Display
You’ll now receive the message text of the email you’re receiving in your email client rather than having to go back to Advicetap each time to view the message. This should save you time and make it more convenient for you. To reply to messages you should still visit your Inbox on Advicetap.

Twitter Cleaning

We’ve also cleaned up the way your Twitter feed displays on your profile. We have several other Twitter integration plans we’re looking into so stay tuned.

Conversations Order
The order of Conversations on the main Conversations pages have also been updated so the newest one will always be at the top of the page.

There’s lots more coming from Advicetap. We hope you’ll enjoy these new updates and be sure to keep sending in your comments and feedback.

Have a great one!

In the last batch of updates the Consultants Directory was also improved so that members with a completed profile will be randomly featured on the main page of the Directory. Consultants that take the time to fill in and complete their profiles (with photo and all) will be rewarded with this extra exposure.

Just thought we’d share Clive Agate’s photo of his “new carbon friendly fridge“. Clive is a small business consultant and life coach working out of the UK. Apparently along with the rest of Europe they are having one of their coldest winters on record!

Clive sent us this photo and thought it was pretty cool so wanted to share it with you for a little laugh.

We’ve been busy around Advicetap improving design and functionality based on feedback we’ve recieved from our members, outside expert opinions, and also things we want to implement and test out.

As we have just added a new lead developer to the Advicetap team from now on you can expect us to be pushing updates and improvements often so things are just starting to get exciting around here!

Today I wanted to quickly explain two of the new features that we’ve implemented on the Logged In Home Page:

1. What’s On Your Mind? and “Share”

This feature is similar to Twitter or Facebook. Members can type a message of upto 140 characters and then share it with their network of consulting connections. We’ve updated the design of the form, “Share” button, and also the ability to add URLs. Our members asked for this and now it’s done.

2. Hot Conversations

Until this most recent update when members logged into the home page it was really hard to see any of the recent activity  going on inside the popular “Conversations” section. Now with the addition of “Hot Conversations” to the home page members can see the two most active conversations that are going on. There’s also a quick link button for them to quickly join that conversation if they want.

So there you have it for today. Will continue to update you on new designs, functionality, and thoughts as things grow and improve…

Well folks, must say we’re a bit relieved!

The design launch that you see over at www.Advicetap.com did not come easy and Mike and I will be the first to admit it.

You see, we actually completed the visuals of this design about two months ago and thought it would take about two weeks to implement it technically but boy were we wrong…After some outsourcing nightmares, many late nights, and some stress to add to that – we have been able to finally launch and we’re excited!

The Good News

Not only do we think the new changes will help community members connect and share information more easily but we are also happy to announce the addition of  Vincent Woo to the Advicetap team as our lead web developer. Vincent is a community member that stepped up when we needed it most and worked his butt off to make Advicetap work the way it is today, we all owe thanks to him!

Well that’s the update for now. As you navigate and use the updated application you’ll notice lots of new features and maybe even things you want improved. We’re still in private Beta and any feedback you folks provide to us the better we can try and make things!

More soon…

The end of a decade is fast approaching and in less then 9 days it will be 2010 – really hard to believe!

As the year comes to a close it’s always nice to unwind a bit, step away from your daily routines, and just reflect on what you’ve done over the year. It’s also one of the best times to think about what you’re looking to accomplish, improve on, and change in the upcoming year – a clean slate

Here at Advicetap it’s been a really exciting year. We launched the first version of the Advicetap community, built up a small but crucial membership base, and got valuable feedback on what we can do to improve things for our community members.

In 2010 our resolution is to work our butts off to make Advicetap the most useful community for the new era of pr, brand, marketing, and online business consultants! The goal for 2010 is to develop Advicetap into THE place for consultants to connect with each other, sharpen their knowledge and skills and generate new business.

With that being said here at Advicetap we want to wish all of you an amazing holiday season, and we look forward to building with you in 2010!

From Michael & Sam
Founders of Advicetap

It’s really great to see more members getting involved on Advicetap.

What I’m even more excited about is that there are already members that have connected and are looking at opportunities to collaborate with each other on projects. That’s awesome!

Consulting Tools
Advicetap member Aarni Heiskanen also shared a great article on taking your consulting knowledge and turning it into tools you can offer to your clients. This is a concept I feel far more consultants should be looking at. Great stuff Aarni!

Working Hard
We’re working hard to release some big updates. We’ve had a few tech issues come up, but we’ve pushed forward, taken care of a good chunk of them, and are almost there! Yes!!

Hope you’re having a great week. It’s definitely a cold one where I’m at. That said, our members below the equator have been telling me about the hard core heat they’ve been experiencing!

More to come soon…

Thanks to all the Advicetap members that have been active in the Conversations. Some of the best feedback and insights we’ve received have come by way of your thoughts and replies to This Week’s Chat.

Valuable Discussions
Hearing (okay, I guess it’s mostly reading though we have been in touch with many of you and we’ll be doing more of that) first hand what issues are most important to you, as a consultant, not only makes for passionate and valuable discussions, but also helps us to keep improving Advicetap.

Let The Expert Content Flow
The latest expert article in the Advice Hub by consultant Rebel Brown has been receiving great reviews. The tap has just been turned on, plenty more expert content is on its way.

It’s More Than Technology
We’re also excited to be rolling out some big updates in the next week or two. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on those! We’ll have more to share with you soon.

See ya’ll on the inside…