Sunday Sales Blast 9/16/18

Why Word-of-Mouth Marketing Matters 

Here's why it's important to get people chatting about your brand.

From social media to banner ads and SEO, there are a number of ways companies market their goods and services. However, the most trusted source is usually from a person’s friends, family or colleague.

If word-of-mouth marketing sounds simple, don’t be fooled -- it isn’t. Creating cutting edge buzz-worthy messages that go viral is no easy task.

While more than half of small business owners anticipate growth for their businesses in 2015, according to a Small Business Report, 56 percent say they’re investing less than 3 percent on marketing. When they do invest, most of these business owners are likely thinking about traditional forms of advertising or collecting new customers instead of connecting with them.

How do you turn consumers into passionate brand advocates through word-of-mouth marketing? How do you fuel conversations that make people want to talk and share your message with their network?

1. Identify and target your influencers.
An influencer is someone who is active on social media and blogs and is able to promote your message and brand. Marketing expert Jay Baer probably put it best when he said, “true influence drives action, not just awareness.” The truth is, consumers today trust a third party much more than they trust brands. Getting the right message out to influencers is a new way of marketing that, if done effectively, can lead to explosive growth for businesses.

2. Connect to the human emotion.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is well-known for its dedication to granting wishes to children facing life-threatening illnesses. Getting people aware of your brand is one thing -- staying in the conversation is another. To achieve the latter, the non-profit organization created a compelling event for Miles Scott, a 5-year-old cancer survivor in remission, who wished he could be the superhero, Batkid, for one day.

On November 15, 2013, Make-A-Wish created one of the largest and most elaborate staged event ever, which included participation from President Barack Obama and other government officials and law enforcement. Even the city’s main newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle produced a “Gotham City Chronicle” edition with the headline “Batkid Saves City: Hooded hero nabs Riddler, rescues damsel in distress.”

As a result of its extraordinary word-of-mouth campaign, Make-A-Wish received 1.89 million social impressions, 555,697 #batkid hashtags, significant press coverage including a Buzzfeed article that generated 2.5 million hits within three days, more than 21,683 Instagram and Twitter photos posted by the end of the day, and, of course, increased donations.

3. Continuously involve communities.

4. Give consumers something to talk about with superior customer service.

To read the details on the last two here is the full article:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/251576

Are you coming to the ISSA show in Dallas this year? 44 days till the show starts. See us at booth #2943 and watch for our video's from the show floor.

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 9/9/18

Jeff Bezos Banned PowerPoint in Meetings. His Replacement Is Brilliant

In his 2018 annual letter, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos repeated his rule that PowerPoint is banned in executive meetings. What Bezos replaced it with provides even more valuable insight for entrepreneurs and leaders.

In his letter, and in a recent discussion at the Forum on Leadership at the Bush Center, Bezos revealed that "narrative structure" is more effective than PowerPoint. According to Bezos, new executives are in for a culture shock in their first Amazon meetings. Instead of reading bullet points on a PowerPoint slide, everyone sits silently for about 30 minutes to read a "six-page memo that's narratively structured with real sentences, topic sentences, verbs, and nouns." After everyone's done reading, they discuss the topic. "It's so much better than the typical PowerPoint presentation for so many reasons," Bezos added.

1. Our brains are hardwired for narrative.
Narrative storytelling might not have been as critical for our survival as a species as food, but it comes close.

Anthropologists say when humans gained control of fire, it marked a major milestone in human development. Our ancestors were able to cook food, which was a big plus. But it also had a second benefit. People sat around campfires swapping stories. Stories served as instruction, warning, and inspiration.

2. Stories are persuasive.
Aristotle is the father of persuasion. More than 2,000 years ago he revealed the three elements that all persuasive arguments must have to be effective. He called these elements "appeals." They are: ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos is character and credibility. Logos is logic--an argument must appeal to reason. But ethos and logos are irrelevant in the absence of pathos--emotion.

3. Bullet points are the least effective way of sharing ideas.
Bullets don't inspire. Stories do.
Simply put, the brain is not built to retain information that's structured as bullet points on a slide. It's well-known among neuroscientists that we recall things much better when we see pictures of the object or topic than when we read text on a slide.

Visuals are much, much more powerful than text alone. That's why, if you choose to use slides, use more pictures than words--and don't use bullet points. Ever.

https://www.inc.com/carmine-gallo/jeff-bezos-bans-powerpoint-in-meetings-his-replacement-is-brilliant.html?cid=landermore

Have you booked your tickets for the ISSA show yet? If you haven't, do it asap, flights and hotels are expensive and there are not a lot of choices.
See us at booth #2943 and watch for our video's from the show floor.


Have a great day and an even better sales week!Watch some good golf today from our neck of the woods on the BMW Championship.
 

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 9/2/18

Happy almost Labor Day and the "unofficial end of summer"

Labor Day Parade at NY's Union Square, 1882

Labor Day in the United States is a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, laws, and well-being of the country. It is the Monday of the long weekend known as Labor Day Weekend and it is considered the unofficial end of summer in the United States. It is recognized as a federal holiday.

Beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and labor movements grew, trade unionists proposed that a day be set aside to celebrate labor. "Labor Day" was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, which organized the first parade in New York City. In 1887, Oregon was the first state of the United States to make it an official public holiday. By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, thirty states in the United States officially celebrated Labor Day.

Labor Day is called the "unofficial end of summer" because it marks the end of the cultural summer season. Many take their two-week vacations during the two weeks ending Labor Day weekend. Many fall activities, such as school and sports begin about this time.

In the U.S. state of Virginia, the amusement park industry has successfully lobbied for legislation requiring most school districts in the state to have their first day of school after Labor Day, in order to give families another weekend to visit amusement parks in the state. The relevant statute has been nicknamed the "Kings Dominion law" after one such park.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day


Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 8/26/18

The productivity issue of the SSB

Sitting Near a Multitasker Decreases Your Intelligence By 17 Percent
Research from Stanford and other top universities suggest that multitasking may be damaging our brains.

Surprisingly, the researchers discovered that media multitasking in everyday life does not translate to performance benefits in multitasking tests conducted in a laboratory. In fact, the opposite was the case. Regular media multitasking makes people LESS effective at accomplishing tasks while multitasking.
Meanwhile, a different study at Stanford University discovered that regular multitasking also makes it harder for people to focus on a single task and, perhaps more importantly, "allow[s] goal-irrelevant information to compete with goal-relevant information." In other words, daily multitasking makes you:
    •    LESS effective when multitasking.
    •    LESS effective when not multitasking.
    •    LESS effective at prioritizing to achieve goals.

Why does this happen? Well, it turns out that when you're multitasking, you literally reduce your intelligence, as measured by your ability to comprehend what you're seeing and hearing. A landmark study from York University in the UK found that on a standard comprehension test, multitaskers scored 11 percent lower than those who weren't multitasking.

Even more disturbingly, researchers discovered that merely sitting near somebody who is multitasking drops your comprehension by an astounding 17 percent. This is apparently due to the visual pollution of seeing the other person's screen or activities, which forces your brain to interpret what it's seeing...which takes more effort than the multitasking itself.

https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/multitasking-reduces-your-intelligence-by-17.html?cid=hmside3

Virtual Assistant Options for Any Company -- From Startups to High-Flyers

VAs can cover your bookkeeping, social media, writing, customer service and programming needs, as much or as little as you want them to.

Using a virtual assistant can shave hours from your workweek, but knowing which tasks to delegate can be tricky, whether you're starting or growing a business. Most virtual assistants are contract or freelance workers who do their jobs from home and focus on administrative tasks that are similar to those of an executive assistant or secretary. Websites that specialize in contract workers, such as odesk.com and elance.com, have thousands of listings for virtual assistants.

10 Things to Outsource to a Virtual Assistant

Bookkeeping: Many small businesses choose to share their bookkeeping systems with their virtual assistants who can then follow up on tasks such as outstanding invoices or unpaid bills.

Database entries: Whether it's a slew of new business cards picked up at a conference or updated information for existing contacts, keeping databases current is a suitable task for virtual assistants. Be specific about your needs and expectations, and make sure the virtual assistant has done this type of work before so there's less room for errors

Managing email: To keep you from wasting time in your email inbox, some virtual assistants will filter your most important emails and respond to the rest on your behalf, Colaiacovo says. Such email management is easy to do remotely, but you need to provide guidance on how to pick out key emails and ask the assistant to copy you before sending out any responses to reduce the risk of errors. 

Scheduling: Because many scheduling tools are available online, virtual assistants are managing the calendars of many clients, says Kramer Harrawood. Tasks include dealing with meeting invitations from others, scheduling appointments with clients and helping to plan events. 

For all 10-
https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/299695

Good golf this afternoon if you want a break from the great weather.


Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 8/19/18

Almost end of summer lazy SSB........

Eco-friendly open-air urinals causeuproar in Paris

An attempt by officials in Paris to tackle public urination by installing open-air urinals, or "uritrottoirs," has outraged some residents of the French capital.
The new urinals, housed in flower boxes, aren't subtle -- they're fully exposed on street corners, painted bright red, and have nearby signs advertising their presence.

City officials have installed four open-air urinals, or "uritrottoirs."
One in particular, located near the Notre Dame cathedral, has drawn attention for its view of the River Seine.
The "intelligent urinals," which have a straw layer that eliminates odor, were installed in areas where public urination is a problem, according to a statement from city officials.

Officials say the urinals are eco-friendly -- they will harness nutrients in waste to produce compost for parks and gardens. According to the statement, one year of a person's urine holds enough nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium to fertilize 400 square meters of wheat.

"I think installing a urinal in the streets of Paris for those who don't respect their surroundings is a good idea, but in my opinion, this model is not attractive at all, and where it's been set up is not appropriate at all," one man told reporters.
Another resident complained, "it is definitely a desirable and historic neighborhood, but seeing people urinating right in front of your door is not the nicest thing."
Ariel Weil, mayor of the 4th district of Paris, tweeted in defense of the urinals on Monday, calling them "an invention of genius." Four have been installed so far, with a fifth being planned.

How would you like one in your neighborhood?
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/14/europe/paris-urinal-intl/index.html

HOW TO TURN A SUNBURN INTO A TAN
BY IAN LECKLITNER · AUG 9, 2017
It’s possible—normally, at least—to stop that bright red skin from flaking off.

Disclaimer: There’s no safe way to tan (or burn). Dermatologist Lisa Chipps made this abundantly clear when asked how to fade a sunburn into an even tan: “Don’t tan,” she responded. “Every time you tan, you increase your risk of developing skin cancer, brown spots and wrinkles.” That said, if you forget to take preventative measures against the sun’s harmful rays—it happens!—these simple tips will ensure the resulting burn fades into an even tan:

1) Hydrate: “Sunburns compromise your skin barrier, which results in a ton of water loss,” explains dermatologist Anthony Rossi. “Drinking plenty of water will not only keep you from getting the chills, but it will cool off your skin, too.” On top of that, staying hydrated keeps peeling to a minimum, which is vital when fading a sunburn into a tan.

2) Pop a Pill: “Taking an Advil or a Motrin will keep the inflammation down [which results in quicker healing skin] and help to relieve any discomfort,” Rossi says.

3) Moisturize: “I always tell my patients to stick a thick moisturizer in the fridge before applying it to their sunburn,” says Rossi. “The coolness helps to ease the burn and the moisture keeps the peeling to a minimum. If it contains aloe vera, that’s just a cherry on top.” (Pro tip: Use a product without added fragrances or scents, as these chemicals can sometimes irritate inflamed skin.)

If your sunburned skin feels particularly dry and itchy, Rossi recommends applying the lotion directly after a shower: “It’s key to pat the skin dry after washing, leaving a small amount of water on the skin,” Rossi explains. “Then, place the moisturizer on top of the water to lock it into the skin.” That extra moisture will keep your skin healthy, allowing the burn to fade into an even tan.

https://content.dollarshaveclub.com/turn-sunburn-tan

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 8/12/18

The 5-Hour Rule Used by Bill Gates, Jack Ma and Elon Musk

The most successful people on the planet are also the people likeliest to devote an hour a day to reading and learning.

You just walked in the door from an exhausting day at work. You’re hungry and spent, just wanting to catch your breath for a minute. You grab something to eat and then veg out in front of the TV. Next thing you know, you've just binge-watched five episodes of "Jessica Jones."
While that’s OK occasionally -- we all need ways to decompress and shut down -- this isn’t a healthy habit. That’s why the most successful people in the world spend their free time learning.
It’s not exactly breaking news. During his five-year study of more than 200 self-made millionaires, Thomas Corley found that they don’t watch TV. Instead, an impressive 86 percent claimed they read -- but not just for fun. What’s more, 63 percent indicated they listened to audiobooks during their morning commute.

BREAKING DOWN THE FIVE-HOUR RULE.
The five-hour rule was coined by Michael Simmons, founder of Empact. The concept is wonderfully simple: No matter how busy successful people are, they always “set aside at least an hour a day (or five hours a week) over their entire career for activities that can be classified as deliberate practice or learning.”
Simmons traces this phenomenon back to Ben Franklin. “Throughout Ben Franklin's adult life, he consistently invested roughly an hour a day in deliberate learning. I call this Franklin's five-hour rule: one hour a day on every weekday,” Simmons wrote.

I am a huge fan of Audible and read/listen to at least 2 books a month. I like biographies but also a good mix of SyFi and others. I also listen to 5-6 podcasts every week. With some good headphones that don’t fall you can be running, cleaning bathrooms (product testing) and learning new stuff at the same time. I easily get 5 hours of "deliberate learning" by listing to audio books during the week. If you do not subscribe to Audible you can get a free book as a first timer.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/317602

Summer is moving by really fast so get out there and enjoy it while you can. Maybe listen to a book while you are out there.

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 8/5/18

If Your Sales Pitch Is Missing These Steps, You May Miss Out on the Sale

At its core, a sales pitch is an opportunity to show customers how your products and services will help them achieve their goals. What better way to show customers how you can help solve their problems than by teaching them something? If you're able to teach customers, they will naturally be more likely to want to learn more about the value of your products and services.

As you think about ways to improve your sales communications, here are some steps you can take to educate current and future customers.

BECOME A SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT.
PUT YOURSELF IN THE CUSTOMER'S SHOES.
TELL CUSTOMERS SOMETHING THEY DON'T KNOW.
SHOW THE CUSTOMER HOW YOU CAN HELP.
NURTURE THE RELATIONSHIP.

LEARN FROM YOUR CUSTOMERS.
Each time you engage with a customer, it's an opportunity for you to learn something, too. Over time, you'll be able to pick up on the common challenges and pain points of customers. This collective insight should help you to address current and future needs.

Almost every day I hear from a salesperson who is trying to sell me something. While the product may be different, it often sounds like everyone is reading from the exact same sales script. If you want to stand out from the crowd, save the aggressive call-to-action tactics for later and lead with some useful information that can move a customer's business forward. Be a subject matter expert who is known for sharing knowledge to help customers make the most informed buying decision possible.

You have to earn your customers' business by showing up for them each and every day. If you can demonstrate that you care about their business and want to help them succeed, you will earn their business, trust and loyalty. You'll close the deal, live up to your promise and become so much more than just a vendor -- you'll be a partner.

For details on each one: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/317219

Winter is coming!

I know the Sunday Sales Blast isn't about selling our "stuff" but we could not resist to remind you that it is August and now is the time to be planning and selling products like Winterinse and Liquid Ice Melt, To learn more click here.
 

World Golf Championships today, maybe Tiger can win this one after a good showing at the British Open.

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 7/29/18

Amazon quietly signed a $5.5 billion deal to sell its products to American cities — here are some of the biggest spenders

• In 2017, Amazon signed a national contract with a co-op that buys products (e.g. school and office supplies, electronics, and library books) for 1,500 cities, counties, and school districts across the US. Public funds, often through taxes, pay for these Amazon products.
• The co-op says that Amazon could receive up to $5.5 billion over the next 11 years.
• A new report from the Institute of Self Reliance looks at purchasing totals from 60 cities, counties, and school districts in 2016.
• The report's authors argue that relying on Amazon to buy public goods undermines local retailers or national chains with local stores.

When cities, counties, and public school districts need to buy office and classroom supplies, computers, musical instruments, and library books, they often consult purchasing co-ops. One of the largest of these co-ops is US Communities, which negotiates contracts with retailers. Cities then use public funding to buy the products.
In 2017, Amazon signed a contract with US Communities to provide its products to 1,500 public agencies, ranging from Atlanta Public Schools to the Mesa, Arizona police department. According to the co-op, Amazon could receive up to $5.5 billion over the next 11 years (or $500 million a year) as a result. While not every Amazon product is available through the deal, it includes a range of categories for products from Amazon Basics and various brands.

What does this have to do with the Jan/San market? It is just a matter of time till Amazon does the same thing with cleaning supplies. What are you doing to prepare for that?
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-partners-american-cities-multi-billion-dollar-deal-2018-7

Do This 1 Thing During Vacation to Come Back Recharged

Americans forfeit roughly half of their earned vacation days--this despite the fact that working in high-stress jobs can increase the number of health ailments that one faces. A 2014 American Psychology Association report found that stress is linked to an array of psychological symptoms that include irritability, anxiety, and decreased motivation. According to the APA’s report, 60 percent of stress is reportedly caused by work.

Steven Kadoch, managing partner at Ultimate Jet Vacations, a 2017 Inc. 5000 company, says that getting out of the office can help you think of the big picture and what’s next for your professional or business life. Kadoch emphasizes the importance of building a personalized vacation. Whether it’s a trip to an all-inclusive resort in Cabo or a safari in Tanzania, Kadoch suggests not rushing through the process, but instead planning your vacation in a very individualized way. “Think about what you and your family enjoy, not just that hot spot where your friend went and how much they spent.”

When we are on vacation and feel some sense of distance from the hustle and bustle of our daily routine, Kadoch says, life feels good again and gives us the chance to come back to work with more energy and focus. And seeing vacations as Ross does--as a non-negotiable requirement that we need to “grow, expand, recharge, and renew”--can lead to improved outcomes for your clients, your employees, and your personal relationships.

Summer is almost over, book some vacation days.
 

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 7/22/18

Why the Sunday Sales Blast (SSB)?
I was recently asked what is the purpose of the SSB. That's is an excellent question and good one to cover this week. We started the Sunday Sales Blast quite a few years ago after we stopped producing the Jancast Podcast.
I am an avid reader and always looking to learn new things. As I come upon great articles, news etc that gets my interest I figured why not share it. Every now and then we plug in some products or "Bullen" related stuff but we try to be non-commercial in our content. The background benefit of the SSB for Bullen is it drives traffic to our website and that helps our search ranking. Do you have a blog or social presence that could help your company?

You can still listen to the over 100 Jancast shows we did back in 2003-2016. Here is a link to the video version of Jancast. Check show # 82 where I interviewed my Dad. Here is a link to those shows: Click here

Now back to this weeks SSB content

7 Tips and Tricks to Keep Yourself Motivated in Any Situation
When the going gets tough, the tough use these smart strategies to keep going.

When you work for yourself and must juggle all of the demands that come with running your own business, it can sometimes be hard to stay motivated. You might get tired, lose momentum, or even feel discouraged by competing demands on your time. Staying motivated can be one of the toughest challenges that a sole proprietor faces, because there's no one else around to give you a pep talk. It's just you.

The good news is that you can be your own cheerleader and drill instructor, capable of inspiring and pushing yourself to keep going Here are seven simple ways you can keep yourself motivated, even on the toughest days.

1. Celebrate your "done" list.
Taking a moment at the end of your day to look at everything you accomplished is a good way to keep yourself motivated. Don't look at the things you didn't get done; look at all the tasks you checked off your list, and really celebrate the good day's work you put in

2. Don't start your day with email messages.
When you start your day, it's very easy to sit down at your computer and default to checking your email messages. Don't. According to New Republic, studies have found that the two hours right after you wake up are the most productive, and emails are not the best use of that productive time. Keeping yourself motivated means gaining momentum at the start of your work day. Email messages won't do that. Email messages are housekeeping. They are passive mental activities that don't take advantage of all you can do. What's more, if you start your day facing a full inbox, you'll immediately feel like you're already behind.

5. Complete one task that will make your day a success.
When you sit down to make your daily to-do list, be sure to ask yourself one important question: "What one big task should I complete to make me feel like this day was a success no matter what?" When you have your answer, circle that task and prioritize it. This trick isn't just a strong motivator to get that important task done. It's also helpful for those days when everything falls apart on you and nothing else gets done, because you'll still end your day with a sense of accomplishment.

For the complete list and details:

https://www.inc.com/thehartford/7-tips-tricks-to-keep-yourself-motivated.html?cid=landerhighlights_thehartford

Great golf this week from the British Open. If you got up early you could watch it live., Tiger is in the hunt!

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 7/15/18

26 Daily Habits Highly Successful People Have (and the Rest of us Probably Don't)

You can't get to the top by behaving like everyone else.

Highly successful people don't rise to the top by behaving like everyone else. They understand that achieving great things means getting more done, taking excellent care of their bodies and thinking in ways which promote greatness. Here are the daily habits more than two dozen executives say helped them get where they are today.

Here are  few:

1. WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN.
"I've found it's really helpful just to write everything down. It lets you collect fun or creative ideas you have for later to revisit them at a later time. Even if a lot of the things you are writing down at the time don't seem like good ideas, they may be a good inspiration or relevant later at a different time or context. Here quantity can lead to quality. If you are always writing down the ideas, some of them will turn out good."

5. TAKE INVENTORY OF ROUTINE TASKS THAT CAN BE OUTSOURCED TO OTHERS.
"I'm constantly asking myself if what I'm doing or what's on my calendar is the highest and best use of my time and talent. If not, I look to delegate that task to a trusted member of our team. This allows me to use my time more effectively, but also saves my mental energy for the big problems we're trying to solve. "

10. LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES BUT DON'T WALLO IN THEM.
"Entrepreneurship is a long arc that transcends any one project or company. Strategic missteps and tactical errors are a part of growth and leadership and can often provide the most powerful insights and correction for future success. It's important to lean from your mistakes.

For the full list-
https://www.inc.com/christina-desmarais/26-daily-habits-highly-successful-people-have-and-rest-of-us-probably-dont.html?cid=search

Science Just Gave a Brilliant Reason For Not Wearing a Tie. 

Researchers at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein in Germany thought they'd see whether there were any physical effects of wearing a tie, especially if it's tied tightly, as many of the button-up like it.

What they found is that wearing a tie squeezes the veins in your head and restricts the flow of blood to the brain by 7.5 percent, when compared to those who don't wear ties.
This the researchers describe as a statistically significant difference.
Indeed, some suggest that this could even be fatal for those with inordinately high blood pressure.

https://www.inc.com/chris-matyszczyk/science-just-offered-most-brilliant-reason-for-not-wearing-a-tie.html

Last week one of the tips was to Get Physical. This morning as this email is being sent I am competing the Stone Harbor Triathalon. This will be my second of the summer season. If you see a Sunday Sales Blast next week that means I survived!

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 7/8/18

Happy 4th of July! (a few days ago)

Health care tip- Most people don't wash their hands correctly, USDA study finds.

A study conducted by USDA found consumers fail to correctly wash their hands 97 percent of the time, with the most common mistake being not washing hands long enough.

The observational study, conducted in partnership with nonprofit firm RTI International and North Carolina State University, involved placing 383 participants in test kitchens based in North Carolina and monitoring them through cameras as they cooked dishes including turkey burgers and a chef's salad.

The study revealed only 3 percent of participants followed all the necessary steps to properly wash their hands.
"You can’t see, smell or feel bacteria," said Carmen Rottenberg,  "By simply washing your hands properly, you can protect your family and prevent that bacteria from contaminating your food and key areas in your kitchen."

The most common mistake? Not washing with soap and water for the minimum 20 seconds. Other bad behaviors included not getting hands wet or failing to use soap.

That last part is the one where sales come into play. Educate your customers with these facts an sell them some soap or hand sanitizer. Also don't forget to use hand sanitizer (non-alcohol type, RX200) yourself since the person you just shook hands with probably didn't wash their hands correctly.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/06/29/usda-study-most-people-dont-wash-their-hands-correctly/745048002/

Great quote of the day:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did."
Mark Twain

6 Things Successful People do Before 9 a.m.

Doing something useful when you feel least like doing anything almost guarantees a productive day.

1. GET PHYSICAL

2. EAT SOMETHING

3. TAKE CARE OF THE NECESSARY STUFF.

4. CROSS OFF THE MOST ANNOYING TO-DO LIST ITEM.

5. LEARN SOMETHING

6. MAKE A PLAN.

For the full details here is the link:

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/314388

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 7/1/18

Happy 1st day of July!

Summer is rolling along pretty fast and back east we have had rain, rain, and more rain. Now we have a heat wave. I listen to different radio stations from around the world and New Zealand's Radio Hauraki is a favorite. They are talking about the coming spring (they are the opposite of our summer). That just reminds me that we only have a couple of months of summer left here. Get out an do something fun while you have a chance. To make your business time more productive here are some tips that should give you more leisure time.

5 Ways to Improve Your To-Do Lists
To-Do lists should be an invaluable part of any small business person’s day-to-day. They don’t just help you get things done, they help keep you motivated and on track. Now, they seem pretty self-explanatory, right? Write down a task. Then do it. But sometimes they can quickly go from being useful to useless. A to-do list can too easily take a wrong turn and become exhaustive and exhausting. Here are five quick tips to help you get the most from your to-do lists.

1. Get An App
Bad news, paper and pen lovers: apps are the best way to manage your to-do lists now. They’re able to do more and do it better.

2. Be Specific
Don’t write: “Email clients.” Do write: “Email three clients” or “Email Bob, Mary, and Ted.” After all, how are you supposed to really know when you’re done with “Email clients”?

3. Be Realistic
You’re a small business owner, so I know you have a lot of things to do. That might make you feel inclined to put everything you want to get done in a day on your list. Don’t.

4. Prioritize Items
Most of us can’t put together a list of tasks right away in order of priority. Chances are you’ll think of tasks at random. That doesn’t mean you should just throw them on your list randomly. Your list should never be random.

5. Celebrate Your Accomplishments
When you’ve reached the end-of-your-day, take a moment to really appreciate everything that you got done and crossed off from your to-do list.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/312649

There is a little golf today so after getting out and about relax while watching see if Tiger can make a run.

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 6/24/18

A week of special days!

This week we had three big days all on the same one.

Go Skateboarding Day

Yes, that is me...Go Skateboarding Day (GSD) is an official annual holiday started by the International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC) to promote skateboarding. 

The holiday was conceived in 2004 by the International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC) to help make skateboarding more accessible to the world through various events held in major cities around the world.

The First Day of Summer
The Summer Solstice 2018 occurred on Thursday, June 21, at 06:07 a.m. EST and 3:07 a.m. PST.
The first day of summer and the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice marks the point in the year where the sun reaches its highest point in the sky.

National Selfie Day

The first time National Selfie Day was celebrated was on June 21, 2014. It was started by DJ Rick McNeely as a way to get people to enjoy taking selfies of themselves and to do it in a creative way. Not long after he invented it, the holiday took off.

That's all for this week, I need a rest after all of that celebrating. We will get back to business next week.

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 6/17/18

Happy Fathers Day!

Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic Europe, it has been celebrated on March 19 (St. Joseph's Day) since the Middle Ages. This celebration was brought by the Spanish and Portuguese to Latin America, where March 19 is often still used for it, though many countries in Europe and the Americas have adopted the U.S. date, which is the third Sunday of June (falling on June 17 in 2018). It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March, April and June. It complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Mother's Day, Siblings Day and Grandparents Day.

5 Ways to Improve Your To-Do Lists
To-Do lists should be an invaluable part of any small business person’s day-to-day. They don’t just help you get things down, they help keep you motivated and on track. Now, they seem pretty self-explanatory, right? Write down a task. Then do it. But sometimes they can quickly go from being useful to useless. A to-do list can too easily take a wrong turn and become exhaustive and exhausting. Here are five quick tips to help you get the most from your to-do lists.

1. Get An App
Bad news, paper and pen lovers: apps are the best way to manage your to-do lists now. They’re able to do more and do it better.

2. Be Specific
Don’t write: “Email clients.” Do write: “Email three clients” or “Email Bob, Mary, and Ted.” After all, how are you supposed to really know when you’re done with “Email clients”?

3. Be Realistic
You’re a small business owner, so I know you have a lot of things to do. That might make you feel inclined to put everything you want to get done in a day on your list. Don’t.

4. Prioritize Items
Most of us can’t put together a list of tasks right away in order of priority. Chances are you’ll think of tasks at random. That doesn’t mean you should just throw them on your list randomly. Your list should never be random.

5. Celebrate Your Accomplishments
When you’ve reached the end-of-your-day, take a moment to really appreciate everything that you got done and crossed off from your to-do list.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/312649

Great day if you are a dad to just lay around, watch some golf and have the kids wait on you.... Like that is going to happen.

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 6/10/18

6 Things Successful People do Before 9 a.m.

Doing something useful when you feel least like doing anything almost guarantees a productive day.

1. GET PHYSICAL

You’ve probably heard the phrase “healthy body, healthy mind.” It’s important to take care of yourself physically. For most people, early on in the day is the best time to exercise, before the responsibilities of the day kick in. Whether it’s a brisk walk with your dog, an early run or a bike ride, get your body moving. Not only will it make you feel good, but studies have shown that exercise can improve brain function, so it might even make you smarter at work.

2. EAT SOMETHING

If you’re a busy person, chances are that eating a healthy breakfast is the last thing on your mind. But in terms of the day’s productivity, skipping breakfast can be a huge mistake. If you don’t eat something, chances are you’ll be hitting a vending machine or gorging on donuts at 10:30 am. How productive will you be, and how clearly will you be thinking at work, after that? If you want to be thinking and working at your best, make time to eat a balanced meal in the morning.

3. TAKE CARE OF THE NECESSARY STUFF.

Picking up the dry cleaning. Walking the dog. Packing school lunches. Everyone has things that they have to do. To get a leg up on the day, get these things out of the way early.

4. CROSS OFF THE MOST ANNOYING TO-DO LIST ITEM.

Everyone procrastinates on one thing or another. Start the day right and get at least one of those hard to tackle tasks off of your to-do list. In the morning, you’re at your most energized and refreshed, and best prepared to take on a difficult task or project. 

5. LEARN SOMETHING

To truly be successful in the long run, you must make a lifelong commitment to learning. There is never a point at which you’ve learned “enough”. Learning keeps the mind elastic and allows you to remain nimble in your work. This is important, as the landscape of every business will change over time.

6. MAKE A PLAN.

The best time to map out your day is in the early morning, before the distractions of the day set in. This is a time to consider your goals for the day and how to prioritize tasks to realize them.

Be realistic in mapping out your day: don’t set a mile-long to-do list that you’ll never be able to complete, or schedule yourself in such a way that you’ll be running from thing to thing and getting stressed out. Leave some room for breaks. Consider this plan like a road map, as if you’re on a cross-country trip. You have the freedom to veer off course if needed, but the structure of a general plan will help keep your journey on the right path.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/314388
 

Speaking of exercise, as you are reading this Sunday morning Alex Jarden and I are jumping off of the Cape May Lewis Ferry at the start of the Escape the Cape Triathlon. At my age (64) it is great to have personal challenges to work on just like you have in your business. I would not expect everyone to jump off the ferry but find something that motivates you and also promotes keeping your body and mind in shape.

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 6/3/18

Do glasses make you smarter?

A new study indicates that people who need to wear eyeglasses have higher cognitive functions. For the study published in Nature Communications, scientists from the University of Edinburgh analyzed cognitive and genetic data from 300,000 people aged between 16 and 102. They found that people with higher levels of intelligence were likely to have genes linked to poor eyesight. The study found a genetic correlation between poor eyesight and higher cognitive functions, but it did not establish a direct link between the two. Take away on this, watch out for the people with bad eyesight!

Residents Raise a Stink Over Pig Farms in North Carolina

BEULAVILLE, N.C.—The linchpin of 500 legal complaints against Chinese-owned pork giant Smithfield Foods Inc., is headed to federal court Tuesday, part of a historic challenge to North Carolina’s $2.9 billion hog industry.

A Raleigh-based jury will determine whether a 4,700-hog farm run by a Smithfield contractor, with open pools of manure, emits enough odor and sprayed liquid waste to be considered a nuisance to a neighboring couple.

Lawyers representing Beulaville residents Elvis and Vonnie Williams said in court filings that Smithfield is “a large enterprise with the ability to reduce and end the nuisance.” They said the smell has hurt the couple’s “ability to enjoy family gatherings, barbeques, outdoor chores, playing with children outside, and doing yardwork.”

State regulators originally blessed the storing of manure and urine in open lagoons and spraying liquid waste as fertilizer on farmland. But the industry grew quickly and some lagoons failed, sending waste into rivers and streams during storms. A moratorium on new farms using lagoons has been in place since 1997, but the farm in the lawsuit—and hundreds like it—are grandfathered in, since nearly all hog farms in the state legally installed lagoons in the 1980s and ’90s.

Sounds like a great business opportunity for some odor control. Bullen has a program for this problem and similar ones at sewage treatment plants, garbage dumps etc.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/residents-raise-a-big-stink-over-pig-farms-in-north-carolina-1527591600

Watch the final of the Memorial tournament this afternoon while getting organized for next week. Tiger is making a run and may win this one.

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 5/27/18

Happy Memorial Day (tomorrow)!

Memorial Day or Decoration Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces.
It marks the unofficial start of the summer vacation season,[3] while Labor Day marks its end.
Memorial Day is not to be confused with Veterans Day – Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving, whereas Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans.

Now that summer (vacation season) is here let's try to make how we do things more efficient and accomplish what we want to work on. Here is a great list of ways to use a To Do list for the best results.

5 Ways to Improve Your To-Do Lists
To-Do lists should be an invaluable part of any small business person’s day-to-day. They don’t just help you get things down, they help keep you motivated and on track. Now, they seem pretty self-explanatory, right? Write down a task. Then do it. But sometimes they can quickly go from being useful to useless. A to-do list can too easily take a wrong turn and become exhaustive and exhausting. Here are five quick tips to help you get the most from your to-do lists.

1. Get An App
Bad news, paper and pen lovers: apps are the best way to manage your to-do lists now. They’re able to do more and do it better.

2. Be Specific
Don’t write: “Email clients.” Do write: “Email three clients” or “Email Bob, Mary, and Ted.” After all, how are you supposed to really know when you’re done with “Email clients”?

3. Be Realistic
You’re a small business owner, so I know you have a lot of things to do. That might make you feel inclined to put everything you want to get done in a day on your list. Don’t.

4. Prioritize Items
Most of us can’t put together a list of tasks right away in order of priority. Chances are you’ll think of tasks at random. That doesn’t mean you should just throw them on your list randomly. Your list should never be random.

5. Celebrate Your Accomplishments
When you’ve reached the end-of-your-day, take a moment to really appreciate everything that you got done and crossed off from your to-do list.

For the complete article - https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/312649

If you missed watching our videos from the Interclean show, scroll down to see all four of them!

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

Sunday Sales Blast 5/21/18

The 2018 Interclean show is over, now you can watch the coverage!

We had a great week in Amsterdam and as you are reading this we are on the plane flying back to the USA. It was a very productive week for us for two reasons. First, we met with our customers from around the world and second, we have great discussions with new suppliers for innovative new packaging, equipment and much more. We have posted up 4 videos from the show so those of you who have not been to Amsterdam can get a feel for what goes on at the Interclean show.

Scroll down below to see the four videos from the show in Amsterdam.

Have a great day and an even better sales week!

Scott Jarden

2018 Interclean Final Day Video

This last video covers why Bullen has exhibited at the Interclean show for over 30 years. As a manufacturer and a customer, we show and source new products that others from the USA may never see.

2018 Interclean Third Day Video

In today's video, we take a walk around the show floor and give you some peaks at other booths and what things look like from a bunch of different angles.