Red Zone Marketing's Blog

Spam-alytics: Finding a way to stop the spam

This weekend I went through my junk email box where messages are filtered from my regular email inbox. 1,450 emails! How did I get on that many spammers lists?? Did you ever wonder where all that spam comes from?

A study just done by computer scientists at two University of California campuses have seemingly gotten to the bottom of it. For 3 months the researchers, as reported in an article in The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/kgWtbU), turned off all of their spam filters and TRIED to receive all of the spam they could. From the nearly billion emails, they made purchases from the websites advertised in the emails. Their goal was to find a “choke point” that could potentially highlight a solution to reduce spam.

They found that there IS a way to stop the spam! The researchers uncovered that 95% of credit card transactions for the spam-advertised purchases they made were handled by just three financial companies based in Azerbaijan, Denmark and Nevis (in the West Indies).

THE SOLUTION:

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Time Wasting Awareness: How is your perception of time?

Did you know that your awareness of time has a direct impact on your social intelligence? It’s easy to spot someone with poor awareness of time. They talk longer than what seems necessary in a meeting, they’re difficult to get off the phone, and they don’t get anywhere quickly (be it to an appointment, the point of a conversation, etc.). They are your classic time wasters. Every now and again we all fall victim to becoming time wasters. A keen awareness of time requires focus, concern for others, and an internal clock that’s been activated.

In the book, The Connectors, I wrote about one of the most exceptional speakers I have heard, Chris Mee. He has an incredible sense of time, and he puts it to use in his presentations as well in meetings and conversations. In one instance, Mee was asked to speak for 40 minutes to a group of financial advisors. The speakers before him each ran long on their allotted time. He looked at the organizer and said that he could get the meeting back on time. He did his 40 minute presentation in 5 minutes without ever looking at his watch. It was, by the way, the highest rated presentation of the day. How is that possible?

Whether in a meeting, on the phone, or in delivery of a presentation, there are some key points to both stay on time, while delivering compelling information:

1. Get to the point. Determine what in your presentation or conversation is the most important, compelling and potentially valuable for your audience (be it an individual or entire group). 

2. Practice. Know how long it should take you to describe certain elements of your business, products, or services. Be prepared.

3. Time yourself. If you find yourself “going long” in conversations or presentations – and even if you think you are always right on time – check your watch. When you start talking during a business meeting, look at your watch. Then, check back when you’re done. How much of the meeting did your conversation occupy? Was your percentage of the meeting justified with the content you covered? Focusing on time will help train your internal clock.

In business, time is critical. It is one of the most precious commodities. So, don’t let time wasters get away with stealing your precious time – including yourself!

I Really Truly Don’t Have Time!

Every day I run across the “I don’t have time!!” objection to getting things done (sometimes it is me saying it). As you’re working to finish this year strong and planning for 2011, here is a quick excerpt from The Connectors that I always find grounding. Often it is the simple advice that makes the most sense!

Unless public relations is your specialty, the name Ivy Ledbetter Lee probably won't mean anything. In 1904, Lee and a partner launched a practice in the brand new field of public relations. In fact, Lee is considered by many as the father of modern public relations.

His clients included some of the best-known business titans of the day -- John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Charles M. Schwab, for example. In 1903, after serving as president of Carnegie Steel Company and then U.S. Steel Corporation, Schwab took the reins at Bethlehem Steel Corporation, the nation's then-second largest steel producer. On one occasion, Schwab spoke to Lee, who was serving as a PR consultant to the company, about how his managers might make more effective use of their time.

Almost immediately, Lee scribbled out a simple plan, suggested that Schwab put it into practice for a time, and then pay him for whatever the steel executive thought the advice was worth. The plan proved to be so effective that Schwab sent Lee a check in the amount of $25,000 -- the equivalent of perhaps a quarter of a million dollars today.

What sort of a plan was worth that much money? It consisted of four simple steps:

1)    Make a list of the most important things you have to do tomorrow
2)    Arrange them in the order of their importance (prioritize them)
3)    Next day, work on the most important task until it's completed:
4)    Tackle the other tasks in priority order.

Yes, it is ultra simplistic. But do we really need our time management being complex like just about everything else in our lives?