Can your phone number spell?

People tend to remember words better than numbers. Some telecommunication players have hooked up to this “call” and have introduced a phone number that spells. Technically titled the alphanumeric and popular in the United States, the “spelling” phone number is starting to “ring” the attention of Australians.

Benefits of dialling an alphanumeric:
· Your company name becomes entrenched in the mind of others.
· Your number becomes an extension of your company.
· Facilitates easier contact to you…PEOPLE LIKE CONVENIENCE.

Customer feedback to my mobile alphanumeric has been very positive. "Isn't that CLEVER!" is a common wide-eyed response. When I registered CleverLinkin 1998, I wanted a phone number that could add value. I identified a series of numbers and checked their availability: 0416 CLEVER (0416 253 837).

To see what your current numbers spell log into http://www.phonespell.org/

Camtu Pham
Managing Director, CleverLink
camtu@cleverlink.com.au
http://www.cleverlink.com.au

Exhibit Yourself: Achieving Tradeshow Success

In May 2002, CleverLinkparticipated in the Australian Technology Showcase (ATS) and the CeBIT ITC International tradeshow. This was our first experience as exhibitor participants. Mindful of creating a good impression, we did our homework and prepared. Our efforts were well rewarded. We carried ourselves with distinction.

Our positive results were achieved by keeping mindful of the following:

We Set Exhibition Objectives
Why do you want to participate and how will you measure the results?
Tradeshow investment stretches beyond the monetary: Your time, staff time, postage
and printing costs etc. Don’t underestimate the indirect costs. So know your objectives.
You want a return on your investment and energy!

We Shared the Load
There is much to prepare for an event. In the two recent events, we shared the workload before, during and after. Participating in exhibitions is like a team building exercise. Share the "stress", success and have fun together.

We Visited other Exhibitors
Learn from others. Take the opportunity to network with exhibitors and learn to see what they have to offer. These people can be potential suppliers, potential clients or competitors. Don't you want to know?

We Were Physically and Dress-Wise Prepared
- Sleep well. The day before each exhibition we treated ourselves to massage at Crystal
Cave (one of our clients).
- Wear bright clothes and comfortable shoes. Stand out and preserve your feet; you may be standing up for long periods.

We Paid Strong Attention to WHAT to Showcase and HOW to Display?
Do you need a laptop, a monitor, a screen, a poster, etc? We show cased our work examples by printing our clients’ homepage and laminating onto cardboard and a monitor screen. Click here to see our set up.

We Supplied Give Away(s)
- Miscellaneous give aways with our logo and contact details.
- Attending tradeshows can be tiring; we attempted to offset the fatigue with sugar boost (lollies).
- We drew a prize (wine and chocolates) at the end of the show. Entice people. They are more likely to fill out a form and provide valuable feedback.

We Informed Clients and Business Associates
- Invite them to attend and inform on the outcome;
- Snapshots of ATS 6 May 2002, CeBit Australia 30 May 2002;
- Publish a news release;
- Click here to see our press release.

We Followed Up
One of our potential clients who attended the ATS tradeshow told us CleverLinkwas the only exhibitor (out of 36) who knew he attended. No other businesses had, at the time of writing, followed up!

We Recorded Our Successes and Lessons Learnt
Evaluate your processes and look to improve at future events. Perhaps you might like to share your experience with others as I am doing.

We Celebrated and Gave Thanks
No matter how small the success, it’s worth celebrating: team dinner / lunch, special event or even morning tea in the office. Whatever the festivity, recognise your winning efforts! Thank those who helped you succeed: spouse, team, organiser, supplier that met a deadline etc.

I trust my experiences will help steer you toward tradeshow success.
Go for it and have fun!

Camtu Pham
Managing Director, CleverLink
camtu@cleverlink.com.au

Say it Well: Public Speaking Success

Public speaking is a great way to grow your business and can be very enjoyable. But speaking before others can intimidate many. Here are my tips to improving public speaking skills:

1. Visualise yourself as a public speaking success
2. Know your audience and environment
3. Know your material
4. Don't apologise and make excuses
5. Dress appropriately
6. Seek audience participation
7. Use props and visual aids
8. Pay greater attention to the introduction and conclusion.
9. If appropriate, punctuate your speech with humour
10. Practice, practice, practice and take a deep breath before you start.

Camtu Pham,
M. Commerce, B. Comp. Science
Member, Keira Toastmaster
Member, National Speaker Association
Student Leadership and Business Development Consultant

Seven Steps to a successful web site

Step 1: Identify your Customers and Audience
Who are your customers and what do they want to know about your business?
What are their needs and interests?

Step 2: Identify your Business Specialities and Objectives
What are your products and services?
What are your qualifications, experience and knowledge?
How can you better your competitors?
What image do you wish to project?

Step 3: Perform Cost - Benefit Analysis
What is your Web investment?
How will you return this investment?
What will the Web site do for your company?

Step 4: Create a Content Plan and Prototype
A content plan is the roadmap for your site.
Categorise content: About Us, Our Services, Our Team/people, Contact details, Office location (see our contact page), Our Background, Work examples etc.

Step 5: Build and Launch
If you have in-house expertise then congratulations. However, don't risk your professional image with a poor quality site. If you need help, talk to us.

Step 6: Promote and Measure Results
Before the site is launched, or even built, plan how to promote the site both in cyberspace and in the “real” world. Promote in cyber through unpaid links, and with paid links where the payback is appropriate. Add your Web address or URL to your business cards, print material and other media (eg. TV). Educate your staff to know your Web and e-mail addresses.

CleverLink can assist with traffic measurement viz. determines how many people visit and which parts attract most attention.

Step 7: Maintain and Enhance
If the investment is returning, continue to maintain, develop and enhance your site. All information should be up-to-date, fresh and relevant. Show you have your finger on the pulse. Install confidence that you are conscious of improvement and change. IMPRESS. You want to hold and capture the person who purposely visits your site and you want the net surfer to return and “catch your wave.”

Alliances: New and Old

The value of networking to gain potential clients is no stranger to the business community. But how well do you manage the details of your contacts?
Having met fifty people at a function and collected twenty business cards, how efficient would you be at storing the data? Would you database the details?

Contacts facilitate business growth. So categorise and store the information effectively. Contact us for database help.

When seeking to uncover new alliances and chase new business, don't overlook the relationship with existing business associates and suppliers. To cement this bond:

· Ensure ease of contact.
· Add your contact details to every email you send. Your contact details must be on show and at hand. Make things easy for people…pamper.
· Attach a signature file.

To find out more about signature files, email us service@cleverlink.com.au

Avenues Galore: Announcing Your Web Address

1. Answering Machine
2. Address labels
3. Brochures
4. Business Cards and Stationery
5. Catalogues
6. CD ROM Presentations
7. Christmas Cards
8. Classifieds
9. Company/Personal Cars
10. Fax sheets
11. Flyers
12. Invoices
13. Media Kits
14. Newsletters
15. Newspaper Ads
16. Phonebook Listings
17. Postcards
18. Radio Ads
19. Receipts