The 2005 Nascar Nextel Cup finished up yesterday. Tony Stewart w/ Joe Gibbs Racing took home the series championship. I'm not a die hard Nascar fan, but I do enjoy watching the races and learning the dynamics of the sport. If you spend anytime at all watching a current race you'll see much more of the team aspect than ever before. Fox Sports really started promoting the team a few years ago and the other networks have followed suit.

I mention all this to get to the point about teamwork. Using racing as an example, it takes all kinds of expertise to make an organization work. Some people get more accolades and money than others, but each individual is important. So, be sure to pat everyone on the back when success comes and pull everyone together when things are going rough to get a true team effort.

Hats off to Tony Stewart and Joe Gibbs Racing. On a side note, Joe Gibbs has written a few books and has one on the road to success he has had in racing called Racing to Win. Check it out. It has fantastic principles that can apply to your business.

This past weekend we had to travel to upstate NY for a funeral. We packed up the kids in the car and headed out. Good ol' Walmart provided entertainment for the kids in the form of a portable DVD player. Our Saturn LS is a bit smaller than our Astro Conversion, but gets twice the gas mileage, so it's worth the close quarters for an eight hour trip.

This trip helped me to remind me of the importance of family. So often we take it for granted. What a great trip to show the kids what being a family is all about. Sacraficing our own desires and plans for others. Especially family. There is nothing like it.

Until next time...'We can't expect our kids to do what we don't'.

I recently saw this article (http://www.melodysmommy.com/WAHM/WAHMLibrary/Articles/E-
Bay/Boost-Sales-With-Audio.html) and my thinking juices started to flow. How powerful could audio be? What value would it bring to a customer? For sure it would depend on the type of product or service that you offer. How might it be used?

It would seem logical that someone might be willing to listen and retain more than if they were to read it. That doesn't mean that you would skim on the content though. There are different segements of customers with different personas coming to your site. Each having their own selling style. Audio could really help persuade those that comprehend well when listening.

Use it to tell them about the features, but more importantly the benefits. Paint a mental picture with your words that appeals to the positive emotions they will receive when using or just owning your product or service. Printed words have a very difficult time using voice inflection. Do you remember what it was like when your primary school teacher was telling you a great story. You could put yourself right there in the adventure. Use audio to do the same with your prospects.

If your website visitor has landed on the page with the audio, they probably didn't get there by accident. They had to take an action to get there. Don't take that visitor for granted and use every applicable method you can to persuade them to the next step in the selling path.

I recently met with a potential client. They invited me down to see their facilities and take some prelim pictures of their manufacturing and retail operations related to firearms. Our phone conversations up to that point had been about where they were currently at with their website efforts and where they thought they wanted/needed to go. Initially, I found myself trying to 'force' my experience on them as to what I thought they needed. Was I right with my ideas? They were sound, proven strategies that had worked in similar practice. Where I was going wrong was with trying to get the potential client to see 'my way of doing things' and not really considering where they were at as a business.

As a professional in the Internet or Website development and marketing arena it is tempting to know all the answers and what is best for clients. Maybe we do know alot. The point is that I had to come to a realization with this prospective client that where they saw themselves was their reality. Not mine. I could see the other side of the pond, but it was important for them to jump just one lily pad at a time. I needed to help them discover the next lily pad. This all dawned on my just an hour before my face to face with them. Sure glad it did.

Time will tell whether the project will move forward, but I was reminded of something very important.