Say Goodbye To The Business Card

by Ilya Pozin –

Your post-networking event business card collection may feel noteworthy, but when they get pushed to the back of your desk drawer, they may not be as valuable as you once thought. Be honest: How often do the business cards you receive get put to use?

Take my mentor Tom Antion, for example. He doesn’t use any business cards. Why not? If people need to reach him and it’s that important, they will find a way. As for me, I haven’t had business cards for many years either. Instead, I make a point to ask my new connection to email me. (When I respond, I include my full contact information.)

It’s become normal to see people at networking events in L.A. using their phones to collect contact information right there on the spot. Fast-forward a few years, and it won’t be surprising to find Google Glass-wearing techies exchanging contact information by looking at each other.

Skip the formal and mindless business card exchange if you really want to develop a professional relationship with a new contact. Consider these business-card alternatives:

Use Your Inbox

There’s nothing worse than having to scour your inbox for the contact information of someone you need to call quickly. But with the help from WriteThat.Name, I’ve remedied this annoying task. This helpful tool acts as a personal email assistant to keep all of your contacts automatically updated.

WriteThat.Name scans the signatures of the people you’re emailing, extracts their information, and merges it with contacts on your email and phone. Easy, right? The best part of this tool is that your contacts aren’t just on your phone–they’re also kept safely in the cloud.

At your next meetup, keep things simple by asking new contacts to shoot you an email prior to saying goodbye. This method can be easily implemented with WriteThat.Name and is also a great way to ensure you never miss a chance to follow-up with someone you’ve met.

Let Your Smartphone Do The Work

If you prefer a software solution rather than a business card, Bump might be the app for you. Available for iPhone and Android, this app takes the work out of networking by transmitting information from your phone to your computer. It might be a challenge if you’re looking to Bump contact information from someone who doesn’t have it downloaded–but with 125 million Bump downloads so far, the odds are relatively good you’ll find someone with the same app.

If you’re not quite ready to go completely cardless, try LinkedIn’s CardMunch app. It turns physical business cards into virtual contacts. By snapping a picture of a business card you’ve collected, the picture is immediately converted to a contact. The magic part of this app: It also links contact information directly to your new connection’s LinkedIn profile.

Business cards may not have completely disappeared, but they’re definitely on the way out.

These are just a few alternatives –what do you use?

Image courtesy of Tricia Wang; Flickr

About Ilya Pozin:

Founder of Open Me and Ciplex. Columnist for Inc, Forbes & LinkedIn. Gadget lover, investor, mentor, husband, father, and ’30 Under 30′ entrepreneur. Follow Ilya below to stay up-to-date with his articles and updates!

 

How a Blank Piece of Paper Can be the Best Tool for Your Small Business

Statistically, new small businesses have the odds against them, with more than half failing within the first five years, according to the Small Business Administration.

They’ve hamstrung themselves even more recently with their reluctance to hire new employees. Almost 80 percent of small businesses did little to no hiring this summer, according to the National Federation of Independent Business.

“No new employees, no new ideas, no new projects – too many entrepreneurs have become paralyzed by fear and uncertainty,” says Michael E. Gerber, http://tinyurl.com/DreamingRoom, best-selling author of “The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It” and creator of the world’s first incubator for entrepreneurs, The Dreaming Room.

Instead of operating out of a place of extreme caution, essentially treading water and just waiting for something good to happen, Gerber says small business owners should sit down with a blank piece of paper and a “beginner’s mind.”

“With that paper in front of you, open your mind to all you’ve never thought of and  create something that doesn’t exist: a product, a service, a system,” he says. “That will awaken your creativity and inspire innovation. Create something new!”

Gerber cites the general lack of consumer excitement over Apple’s newest iPhones, the 5S and 5C.

“They’re not new!” he says. “People have come to expect something truly new every time Apple comes out with something, so they’re disappointed.”

How else can small-business owners reframe their thinking and tap into that spark that initially set them on their course?

• Don’t be so mired in today that you don’t lay the groundwork for infinite possibilities tomorrow. Modesty is often seen as a virtue, but if you’re an entrepreneur, it’s a tragic flaw. What if Steve Jobs’ ambition was to make electronics “a little bit better?” What would the world look like today without iTunes, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Jobs started out with only $5,000 – but also a grand vision that he believed in. Thousands of entrepreneurs see their business as a means of doing their work autonomously; they get by and see this as a win. But that modest success may be a tragic handicap.

• Self-employment is one thing; a thriving business is something altogether different. A small business starts with an idea, but too often the idea is: “I have a talent (or technical skill); I’ll build my business around my execution of that talent.” While this may create the means for self-employment, it closes off the avenues for growth. When a business owner trusts no one else to get the work done, he or she can’t pull away enough to develop new ideas, new products and new opportunities to grow. Find people who can replicate the technical aspects of what you do so that you’re free to explore, experiment and test.

• Make sure everyone is working toward the same goal. A small business is a system in which all parts contribute to the success or failure of the whole. A human body cannot move forward unless all parts cooperate. If your employees are working toward different goals, they’re not only not moving the business forward, they’re not playing as a team. Foster creativity, enthusiasm and energy by clearly communicating the dream and the importance and value of each person’s contribution toward it.

 

 

4 Quick Ways to Make a Viral Video

By: Caroline Rodin

Anyone can make the next big YouTube hit, whether you’re a corporation with a big budget or an individual filming on your phone. But small businesses have the perfect combination of resources, flexibility and a loyal following that make a YouTube video successful. Learn the techniques that big companies are using to promote their videos and help them go viral and how you can do a few simple things to give your video a boost.

Grovo, an online education platform for leading sites, apps and Internet tools has the Top 4 Ways to Make a Video Go Viral This Weekend. YouTube is waiting for you to film the next viral video. Make sure it goes viral.

1. What is Video Optimization?
Online video is more popular than ever, reaching a huge percentage of the US Internet audience…and YouTube, the world’s largest video site, is at the heart of it all. Tapping into that large YouTube audience to get more views, however, means making sure that your videos are optimized for people to find them. Check out this Grovo video to get a quick overview before moving forward:

2. Find and Compare Trends
The YouTube Trends Dashboard allows you to see what videos are most popular in different places around the world to help you decide what content to produce and who to target. To use the YouTube Trends Dashboard, navigate to youtube.com/trendsdashboard. Use the location drop down to see popular videos in a specific country or city, use the age drop down to pick an age range, and filter by gender using the links below. The “Compare” button lets you select up to three locations, age ranges and gender settings to compare what’s popular with different groups of people. Use the “Unique” checkbox to see which videos are not in any other list, and the “Common” checkbox to see which videos are in multiple lists..

3. Help Search Engines Find your Videos
Adding tags and video categories can improve the performance of your videos by helping search engines find them when users search for your tags and similar terms. You can add tags when you upload your video, or at any time after by selecting “Video Manager” in the dropdown below your username. Check off a tag you’ve already used to include it, or type in the box above to find a specific tag or create a new one. You can also choose a video category that matches your title, description and tags to help improve your video’s search ranking even more..

4. How do I Get More YouTube Views?
A video’s popularity is a function of many factors, only one of which is the quality of your video content. Most importantly, however, before people can even judge the quality of your content, they have to be able to find it. Grovo’s video below will show you how to help people find your videos via YouTube search, with three of the most important elements are, and the top 5 factors that will influence how well your video will appear in search results. We’ll wait for you to finish the video…

Okay, good. You actually watched it right? None of these factors is necessarily more important than the others; they all play a part in determining whether you video will show up in search results.

About the Author:
Caroline Phillips Rodin is the SEO & Inbound Marketing Manager for Grovo.com. She has nearly a decade of experience helping Fortune 500 financial and fashion companies improve their online visibility and increase their natural search traffic. Not only is she in love with SEO, she has a passion for sharing her love of SEO with others. Caroline’s work has been published in Social Media Today, YouMoz, Business2Community and AdvancedWebRankings, and more. Caroline graduated from Wellesley College cum laude in 2010 with a degree in sociology. She is an avid reader who spends her free time hunting for NYC’s best chocolate chip cookie.

 

 

House Dems Sent Boehner a Message: Strike a Deal and Maybe We Can Help Protect Your Speakership

He said, “I’ll get back to you.”

—By David Corn

About two weeks ago, as tea partiers in the GOP-controlled House were forcing a government shutdown, some House Democrats sent a private and informal message to House Speaker John Boehner: If you need to break with the die-hard conservatives of your caucus to keep the government running and avoid a debt ceiling crisis, we might be able to try to help you protect your speakership, should far-right Republicans rebel and challenge you. This offer was conveyed to Boehner just as he was entering what has turned into the toughest stretch of his speakership, according to two senior House Democratic lawmakers who each asked not to be identified.

Throughout the latest showdown over government spending and the debt ceiling, political observers have noted that Boehner was in a fix because of the stubbornness of a band of 40 or so tea party firebrands within his caucus who have been egged on by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). These lawmakers were committed to a hostage-taking strategy (no government funding or boost in the debt ceiling, unless Obamacare was smashed and/or government spending was further slashed), and they could mutiny against Boehner were the speaker to forge a bipartisan compromise that bypassed them. There are 232 Republicans in the House—with 218 usually required for a majority—and simple math suggested that if 15 or so of the GOP radicals abandoned Boehner, he could lose his cherished top-dog position. Under House rules, a speaker can be challenged any time with a motion to vacate the speakership, and such a motion is privileged, meaning it zooms to the House floor, without winding through any committee, cannot be blocked by a speaker or his allies, and is subject to a full vote of the House.

But on Capitol Hill, math is not always simple. It would take only a single rebellious tea partier in Boehner’s caucus to force a vote on a motion to boot Boehner. But such a bill, requiring a majority to pass, would probably need Democratic votes to succeed. If Boehner had the backing of half of his caucus (116 members), the coup-makers would only win if Democrats joined their effort to create a bipartisan, anti-Boehner majority. But if the Dems sat out this fight—by voting present or not showing up at all—Boehner could keep his balcony, as long as the mutinous tea partiers could not enlist a majority of the House GOP. In a much more improbable scenario, Democrats could actively protect Boehner by voting to retain him as speaker (that is, voting against the motion to vacate). If such an unlikely event were to occur, Boehner could lose the support of more than half his Republican comrades and still retain the speakership.

As things look now, a tea party uprising in the House against Boehner would not be a guaranteed success. Boehner appears to have support from much of his caucus, which includes legislators who are angered by the tea partiers’ to-the-brink tactics and lawmakers who just like Boehner. There’s no clear sign that the Cruz-controlled faction within Boehner’s ranks could win over their colleagues for an attempt to oust Boehner. And there would be the tricky matter of finding a successor. The 1997 coup against then-Speaker Newt Gingrich failed partly because the plotters could not agree on his replacement. If the tea partiers did manage to throw Boehner from the train, he could run for speaker again. In that event, Boehner could stage a comeback by obtaining the votes of 201 of his 232 GOP colleagues, enough to overcome the 200 Democratic votes that would presumably go to Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. This assumes none of the mad-as-hell tea partiers opposing Boehner would go so far as to vote with the Dems for Pelosi. (The vote for a new speaker is held by all members of the House, and the winner needs an absolute majority of the votes cast.) Or here’s a twist: In the vote for a new speaker, the Democrats could take another walk—which would lower the number of votes Boehner would need for restoration.

The bottom line: The tea partiers would not be in full control, if they were to initiate an anti-Boehner effort. Pelosi and her Democrats could have opportunities to affect the outcome. Certainly, Boehner would be loath to accept any assistance—even passive help—from the Democrats. It would compromise him greatly within GOP and conservative circles and dramatically undermine his already diminished ability to control his GOP crew. If it appeared that Boehner had made any common cause with the Ds, a small mutiny could turn into a wider revolt. Instead of retaining his speakership due to Democratic machinations, Boehner might well prefer to skedaddle to days of well-paid lobbying and nights of fine wine.

So how did Boehner respond to the message? “He said, ‘I’ll get back to you,'” a senior House Democrat says. Asked to comment on this informal offer, Michael Steel, Boehner’s spokesman, said, “That’s silly.”

 

 

What Winning Companies Get… And Others Won’t

by Sallie Krawcheck

We are in a bull market for advice to women on how to get ahead in their companies.

For most of my career, I lived it. I worked in some of the most male of companies (OK, I never worked for Twitter). I learned, through trial and error, how to communicate in a way that I could be heard (research tells me: not too tough and not too soft); how to ask for a raise (advice books say: use facts, not emotion); and how to raise my hand for the next opportunity (studies show: similarly qualified females raise their hands for the next job far less often than men.)

But, while I was making my way through the ranks, women were moving sideways in corporate America, and backwards in my industry: the number of women in financial services declined by 200,000 over the past decade, while the number of men increased by 237,000. This has been happening at a time when women’s lower risk tolerance, greater client focus and greater long-term orientation are sorely needed by the banks. Oh, and by extension, by the entire economy.

So are we trying to fix the wrong problem?

Smart companies are thinking differently. They are recognizing that the inherent differences among genders and cultures are not things to be fixed, but are instead sources of strength. It is exactly these differences that drive the higher returns, lower volatility and greater innovation that accrue to more diverse companies.

Smart companies will embrace and draw on these differences. They will put in the effort that working with people who can’t “finish each others’ sentences” requires. They will push themselves to advance the people who always show up on their slates and never get the jobs (and, we all know it, most big companies have these perennial “slate-fillers.”) They will change their evaluation systems to eliminate “cascading bias,” in which the qualities of the existing (typically white, male) leadership team are reinforced and other types of skills are undervalued.

It won’t happen quickly, and it likely won’t be dramatic. But companies that don’t take this action will increasingly lose out. They’ll lose out to the companies that “get it” and to emerging entrepreneurial opportunities. And they’ll not only lose out on talent, they’ll lose out on innately understanding their full set of customers and their needs.

In the meantime, perhaps my old industry will choose to believe that its under-representation of women employees and the fact that female customers rank it 33 out of 33 of the industries that serve them is all one big, zany coincidence. And besides, as one bank CEO said to me when I recently laid out for him stats on the economic power of women: “But don’t their husbands manage their money?”

 

 

Reasons Why Your Business Should Go Wireless

With the economic climate the way that it is today it may seem that the only way to be sure of your job security is to run your own business. After all, if you are your own boss then you cannot get fired. However, the big problem with this is that this is becoming a common ethos for thousands of Brits to live by which means that there is an ever increasing competition in all legs of the world of business.

Nevertheless, if you have the prior knowledge of the business world required to set yourself apart from your competitors then there is still a good chance that you can go from strength to strength and thrive in this economic situation that Britain currently finds itself in.

Keep up with the times

One of the most integral things to the success of any business is to make sure that you keep up with the times. Technologies and services are forever changing and for your business to have any chance of maintaining any sort of positive development then it is vital that you utilise these adaptations for the benefit of your business.

The latest decision that many businesses are facing at the moment is whether or not to make the most of wireless technology to bring your business into the 21st century. This is a very big step to make and a decision that could eventually make or break your company. The first thing that you need to consider is whether you can afford to invest what it will take to install the required technology in the first place. It is no secret that wireless technology does not come cheap but the potential savings and profits that it will set you up for, for the future cannot be denied.

It is obvious that wireless technology will increase your mobility but it is easy to underestimate how much difference this can make. It means that any workforce that you have will have more time to work and will no longer have the excuse of not having access to the company’s communications.

Greater access to information

Wireless technology means that access to vital information for your business is no longer restricted to wired ports. This means that productivity will improve dramatically no matter what your business is. It means that whether you work in a large office or have a warehouse stocking your products you will be able to keep communication at its peak or you will be able to keep on top of orders and inventories wherever you may be at that particular moment.

The key to good business is great customer service, no matter who your customers are. Whether you are directly customer facing in sales or services or whether you supply to those who directly face the public the key is to keep them happy and to never keep them waiting. Wireless technology means that you can provide your customers and your clients with the exact information that they need with no waiting. It is easy to believe that your business is going strong as it is but if you invest in wireless technology the likelihood is you will never look back.

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source

Guest post contributed by Simon Hardman, Simon is an avid techy by night, and business consultant by day. Simon understands how business life is changing, both politically and technologically and blogs regularly to help people understand it further. Simon regularly works closely with BT Shop to help business understand the more technological side of business.

 

 

Former Partner Shares Life Lessons from the Rise and Fall of Arthur Andersen

As Firm Marks 100th Year, Executive Recounts the Rewards
of Working at a Company Known for Integrity

By the time he was 30, Larry Katzen made partner at Arthur Andersen, then one of the “Big 8” accounting firms with a reputation for innovation and integrity.

In the ensuing years, the firm continued to soar in stature. With an emphasis on continuing education for employees and meticulous attention to detail, it was one of the most trusted accounting firms in the industry. Katzen enjoyed a fast-paced rise through the ranks, all the while learning, traveling, and parenting quadruplets with his wife and college sweetheart, Susan.

It all came crashing down in 2002 when the company was indicted based on false accusations having to do with the scandals at Enron. With the firm’s survival in question, Katzen moved quickly to encourage employees to carefully complete all remaining assignments.

“Arthur Andersen became fodder for the government’s prosecution of Enron – although it had no role in Enron’s demise,” says Katzen, author of, “And You Thought Accountants Were Boring – My Life Inside Arthur Andersen,” (Larryrkatzen.com), a unique look inside one of the world’s most historically important accounting firms.

Arthur Andersen was eventually vindicated by a 9-0 Supreme Court ruling. By then, however, the damage had been done, creating chaos in the careers of thousands of employees. Arthur Andersen, which marked its 100th anniversary in September, still exists today, albeit in a different incarnation.
“I will never regret my time at the firm; it provided so much for me, including solid life lessons,” says Katzen, who shares some of those.

• Do the right thing. At the end of Katzen’s career, he had to help his employees find new jobs, which was an arduous process. “It was the right thing to do, which is its own reward, but the right actions also tend to have rewarding consequences,” he says. That lesson had taken root during Katzen’s college years at Drake University, when a trusted professor warned him against his plan to cancel a job interview with Arthur Andersen because he’d already received several promising offers. “If I hadn’t done what was right, if I hadn’t followed through on my commitment, my life would have gone down a very different path,” he says.

• Listen to your heart. Although Arthur Andersen gave him the lowest salary offer, Katzen nonetheless felt it was the right place for him. “My personality seemed to blend with their corporate culture,” he says. “So I turned down higher and more attractive offers and went with my heart.” Listening to his heart also helped during his wife’s fragile pregnancy with their quadruplets; if the couple hadn’t approved using an experimental drug, “we probably would not have any children today,” he says.

• Increases in responsibility come with personal sacrifice. Katzen had to uproot his life and family and move to a strange new town. But the short-term pain enabled the family to attain financial security and a better quality of life. “If you want to grow in an organization, success does not come without personal sacrifice,” he says. “In my case, it resulted in four moves – but it was well worth it.”

• Beware of the power of our government. In his first substantive experience in dealing with the IRS, Katzen quickly learned how coercive and powerful the agency can be. No matter how reasonable you may try to be with a government agency like the IRS, there is no guarantee it will respond in kind – and don’t assume that you will get a fair trial, he says. “They have the power and authority to do whatever they want to do. In less than three months, our government put one of the world’s most effective and profitable international accounting firms out of business.”

About Larry Katzen

Larry Katzen worked at Arthur Andersen from 1967 to 2002, quickly rising through the ranks to become a partner at age 30. His new memoir details the government’s unjust persecution of a company known for maintaining the highest standards.

 

 

Twitter IPO is Prompting Changes for Users

By: Marsha Friedman

About two months ago, our lead social media strategist at EMSI Public Relations started noticing interesting changes involving the Twitter accounts we manage for clients.

Tools were suddenly disabled. Twitter’s technical support, which hadn’t been good, improved.

So, when news broke on Sept. 24 that Twitter had already formally taken steps toward going public back in mid-July, Jeni Hinojosa wasn’t surprised.

“The changes appear designed to make Twitter more appealing to investors when the initial public offering is finally made,” Jeni says.

“In some ways, they’re also improving the experience for users. But in other ways, some users will be disappointed.’’

Overall, Jeni says, Twitter will likely remain one of the most effective social media platforms for connecting with both individuals and large corporations. That’s because it’s less personal than, say, Facebook, and – this is the biggie – it’s quick and easy to have a conversation with posts of140 characters or less.

What are some of the changes Jeni has seen on Twitter and how might they affect you? She shares four:

• No more “automatic follow-backs” means the size of your following will grow more slowly. Some applications, such as HootSuite and ManageFlitter, allowed Twitter users to set up their accounts to automatically become a follower of anyone who first followed them. That allowed audiences to quickly swell – but it also removed human oversight. The result: Some of your followers, and some accounts you followed, would be fake, inactive or otherwise non-genuine connections.

“I believe Twitter’s shutting down the ways huge audiences of fakes can grow so that they can be properly valued for the IPO,” Jeni says.

While that’s generally good for users, people who want to build a large following quickly may be disappointed. One such group is authors trying to get literary agents or book deals, she says.

“Agents and publishers want authors who have a strong base of potential fans, and one way to demonstrate that is to get big followings on social media,” Jeni says. “Authors may be unhappy that their following grows more slowly, but it’s better in the long run – it’s not hard to tell when someone has a mostly fake following.”

• You can no longer remove fake or unwanted followers en masse. Twitter enforces limits on how many accounts you can proactively follow, so it’s important to periodically clear out the fakes, inactive accounts and other unhelpful followers.

SocialOomph and Manage Flitter allowed users to detect and delete these followers in large bunches, which saved time, Jeni says.

“That function is no longer available,” she says. “Now, you have to go through your followers one by one to delete them.”

• Improved technical support – in some ways. Before the recent changes, if you ran into a problem with your Twitter account, you went to a “help” web page, filled out a form describing the problem, and submitted it. Then you had to watch your email for a confirmation and reply to the confirmation within 48 hours in order for your “case” to move forward.

“While that pesky process still exists, the ‘help’ page now offers troubleshooting, which makes it easier to fix some problems,” Jeni says.

The downside? You’re forced to click through multiple steps and take certain actions before Twitter agrees that you have a problem and allows you to send a request for support.

The help page is support.twitter.com.

• More advertisements. As Facebook did when it went public, Twitter is now offering users the option to pay for their posts to achieve more visibility. So now, you may find a post from an account that you don’t follow appearing at the top of your news feed.

“Most recently, I’ve been getting posts about McDonald’s new Mighty Wings,” Jeni says. “It’s mildly annoying if it’s something you have no interest in, but it can also get confusing. You may see it and think, ‘Did I follow McDonald’s?’ and check to see whether you did or not, especially if you’re close to your limit on followers.”

 

 

Does How You Feel about Money Affect Your Wealth?

D
Best-Selling Business Author Offers 3 Tips for Changing
Your Attitude 

Although we live in the richest and most advanced society the world has ever known, many of us say we need more money in order to be happy, notes best-selling business book author Doug Vermeeren.

“Even some of those in the top percentile of earners often feel like they don’t have enough money,” says Vermeeren, (www.DouglasVermeeren.com), an international speaker who consults with celebrities, business executives and professional athletes.

“The math is simple: More money does not equal more happiness. It’s our attitude toward money, not the amount, that influences our happiness the most.”

Happiness researchers Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton, professors at the Harvard Business School, recently published research indicating that it’s not money that makes people happy, nor the things people buy with it. Rather, it’s the experiences one has that ultimately account for happiness.

“How you experience your money on a day-to-day basis is what matters,” Vermeeren says. “If the software running in your brain is constantly reinforcing the message, ‘it’s not enough,’ then that is likely how you will see yourself and experience your life – as ‘not enough.’ ”

Vermeeren reviews the three fallacies of abundance as it relates to happiness:

• We are all entitled to a certain amount of wealth: The feeling that we deserve or are owed a certain amount of wealth will always make us unhappy with whatever we have. While we are entitled to certain human rights, those do not include a winning lottery ticket. In reality, we are not owed any amount of abundance and, in fact, should count ourselves lucky if we’re able to meet our basic needs; many in the world are not. More of us, however, would be happier simply appreciating what we have.

• The result of our labors is money: Money is a means to an end, not an end in itself. This can be a challenge to keep in mind since so much of our lives are spent in the pursuit of money. We work and go to school to support ourselves and our families. We see things we want, and we know we need more money for them. Study after study shows, however, that what really makes us happy is what we do and who we do it with, and not how much money we spend.

• We’ll be happiest when we finally reach our goal: We are happiest when we are progressing toward a goal. When we lose sight of our goal, veer off the path toward our goal, and even achieve our goal, we’re less happy. Rather than setting one goal and deciding you will be happy when you meet it, you’ll be most happy if you continually set goals and relish your journey toward them.

About Doug Vermeeren

Doug Vermeeren is an internationally renowned public speaker, author, movie producer and director. His life coaching strategies help those from all walks of life, with clients including business executives, celebrities, professional athletes and more. Throughout the last decade, Vermeeren has conducted extensive first hand research into the lives of more than 400 of the world’s top contemporary achievers, making him a sought-after commentator on news outlets including ABC, FOX, CNN and more. He has written three titles contributing to Guerilla Marketing, the best-selling business series in publishing, which is included reading in the Harvard Business School. His documentaries include the award-winning film, The Opus, which has been published by Random House as a book in 23 countries. Vermeeren’s latest film, The Gratitude Experiment , has received critical acclaim.

 

 

Tesla Motors: Attacked by Dealers on Multiple Fronts

by Katie Fink –

While Tesla Motors is not the only electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, the company may be the most effective in terms of gaining publicity for itself as it attempts to transform an industry.

The Tesla Model S

Credit: Tesla Motors

Named after Nikola Tesla, the father of alternating current, Tesla Motors launched in July of 2003 and has since delivered over 15,000 electric vehicles to eager customers in over 31 countries. Its initial model, the Roadster, was released in 2008 and was the first litium-ion battery-powered, highway-capable all-electric vehicle in mass production in the United States. Production of Tesla’s second model, the Model S, began in June of 2012 as a more accessible full-sized sedan and alternative to the Roadster.

Exceptional Quality

Tesla made a splash in the EV market not only because its CEO, Elon Musk, is a founder of famous entrepreneurial ventures including PayPal, Space X and Solar City, but also because of the high quality standards and innovative business model Tesla has established.

Consumer Reports recently rated the Tesla Model S a 99 out of 100 in innovation, performance, and attention to detail (a 99 is the highest score available for a car). Indeed, the Model S easily topped direct luxury competitors such as the Porche Panamera and the Fisker Karma, another luxury electric vehicle.

The Model S is also noted by Consumer Reports as the most practical electric car on the market with its 85-kWh lithium-ion battery that is capable of taking the car 200 miles before needing a charge. Its closest competitors in terms of range are the Ford Focus Electric and Nissan Leaf, which require more frequent charges with ranges between 75 and 80 miles, respectively.

Even with the longest range of any other electric vehicle, Tesla recognized the need for charging infrastructure for long distance driving. To solve this problem, the company has installed 21 Supercharging stations, some incorporating solar photovoltaics, between cities along well-traveled highways.

Charging stations are clustered in 6 groups, in the following cities and towns:

• Northwest: Centralia, WA; Burlington, WA; and Woodburn, OR, all on I-5
• California: I-15, I-105, I-5, US Route 50, Fremont Blvd, and 101 in Barstow, Los Angeles, Tejon Ranch, Buellton, Atascadero, Harris Ranch, Gilroy, Fremont, and Folsom
• Texas: Waco and San Marcos are connected by I-35
• Midwest: Rockford, IL and Normal, IL
• Florida: Port St. Lucie and Fort Myers
• Northeast: Milford, CT; Darien, CT; and Newark, DE are all along i-95.

While it is technically possible to recharge a Tesla at any charging station, regardless of brand, it is currently impossible to drive from coast to coast using only Tesla Supercharging Stations. Tesla anticipates that by 2015 every Supercharging Station will be within driving range of another for more, near seamless recharging. A map indicates current and planned charging stations.

These stations can provide half a charge in 20 minutes and are free for all equipped Model S vehicles for the lifetime of the car.

Attacks from Conventional Dealers

Tesla has come under attack by conventional auto dealers and dealer organizations for everything from misleading advertising to accusations of breaking the law.

Specifically, Tesla has drawn dealers’ ire as it has refused to adopt the traditional automobile franchise route, choosing instead to sell direct to consumer, just as Apple has done, and succeeded, in the consumer technology market with its retail stores.

Tesla claims it must do this because car buyers are uncomfortable with pushy salesmen, and dealers tend to be prejudiced against electric cars due to the longer sale cycle and education required with each customer. However, many dealers see this direct-to-consumer approach as a direct threat to their existence.

lndeed, through what are known as franchise laws, many states have rules forbidding carmakers from selling their cars directly to buyers. Instead, all vehicle sales must go through a licensed dealership franchise. Originally these laws were developed because of the capital-intensive nature of storing, marketing, and servicing cars and to address dealer concerns about foreign manufacturers overtaking American brands. However, Tesla points out, because of the franchise system, distribution makes up about 30% of a car’s final price, making car buying more expensive for consumers than buying direct from the factory.

Illegal in Texas

State laws that protect dealerships from competing with manufacturers have challenged Tesla’s expansion and car dealership associations in New York and Massachusetts have threatened to sue Tesla for selling their wares directly to the customer. Because of these policies, anti-Tesla legislation is pending in North Carolina, Colorado, and Virginia. In the State of Texas, the sale of Tesla vehicles has been outlawed completely under the Texas Occupations Code (TEX OC. CODE ANN. § 2301.476).

To overcome this law, Tesla is proposing a bill in Texas, SB 1659/HB 3351, aimed at creating a loophole to the franchise laws allowing all-electric or battery-powered vehicles to be sold directly to Texas consumers.

However, automobile dealers have no intention of allowing a loophole to be created. According to Bill Wolters, the president of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association, “If we made an exception for everybody that showed up in the legislature, before long the integrity of the entire franchise system is in peril.”

Accusations of Misleading or Deceptive Advertising

In August, Tesla’s Model S achieved the best safety rating of any car ever tested after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The organization awarded the car a 5-star rating not only in overall safety, but also in every subcategory. One reason the Model S is considered so safe is because it lacks a gasoline engine block. The space that would normally hold the engine is used as a second trunk, providing a longer “crumple zone,” to better absorb high-speed impacts from the front. Among other safety features, a double bumper in the rear of the car helps prevent permanently disabling injuries and protects third row passengers.

While only 1% of cars earn an overall rating of 5-stars for safety, Tesla reported that the Model S’s Vehicle Safety Score achieved a better than perfect score of 5.4 stars, a new record for the NHTSA. The NHTSA has said it does not rate automobiles with ratings above a 5 and automobile industry observers have called Teslas claims misleading.

Other car dealers are crying foul about the company’s money saving claims. California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA) is recently claimed that Tesla’s advertising makes misleading statements about the money savings potential of owning an electric car. The CNCDA is petitioning the California DMV to investigate Tesla’s practices and states that Tesla makes sweeping claims about tax credits and other benefits that do not apply to many people.

Regardless of the complaints from insiders, as Tesla prepares to release its Model X, the company’s answer to the SUV, in 2014 the company is setting the bar high for car manufacturers and has many people rooting for it.

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