We can’t win, so we might as well laugh! For your reading entertainment, here’s the recent “circular” conversation that my husband had with Quickbooks customer service regarding an upgrade for the 2009 version.

Very professional isn’t it?

Has anyone had a good customer service experience on instant message? I don’t think I have. It’s hard to get someone who doesn’t speak your language to understand what you’re looking for on IM!

PS By the way, if you can find out what the upgrade price is for Quickbooks 2010 for Mac, let us know

When I started this company, my husband and I researched solutions for hours and hours. I ultimately chose Freshbooks because it met the needs of Coleman Unlimited. My husband’s company, however, was using MYOB. He recently switched over to Quickbooks, hoping it had gotten better than complaints he’d read on the Internet.

The GOOD:
From an invoicing perspective, Quickbooks is very user-friendly.
I like how the program’s interface makes it really easy to see what invoices are overdue, as well as view your income in different time increments. The Transaction Center is the most useful screen when billing.

I hear the PC version is better than the Mac version, but I’ve never experienced the PC version, so I don’t know what I’m missing.

We like most of the basic features of Quickbooks 2009. It’s pretty easy on the eyes. We also like the Home page and its workflow diagram that breaks out tasks.

It’s also easy to receive payment and record deposits. And the bottom line decision-making feature: our accountant can open it and is very familiar with the program.

The BAD:
Data importing is more difficult than it should be. If your bank or credit card pays Intuit (maker of Quickbooks and Quicken) enough cash, you may have a direct connect function where the transactions just flow right into the program.

However, if your bank doesn’t line Intuit’s pockets with enough cash, you’ll experience what we did last week. We went to Bank of America to download our data, but guess what, a Quickbooks (QBO) file wasn’t available to download (at least not for free). What? Now what?

We spent about 4 hours trying to import our bank data. After much searching on the Internet and reading various angry accounts from Quickbooks customers, we discovered that Intuit apparently charges banks to allow them to provide Quickbooks (QBO) downloads. Therefore, Bank of America, wanted to charge us to get QBO downloads (and even discovering this took us through a maze of bad Bank of America customer service… but that’s another story).

Wait a minute? Didn’t I just buy this software program? Aren’t I the customer? Why should I have to pay the bank to get a download of their transactions when I can easily read it on their website? ARRRGGGHHH!!!

We finally discovered a satisfactory solution, but that still doesn’t give us back a half a day of unbillable time. (I’ll skip my treatise on why corporate greed shouldn’t infringe so much on basic customer service–but it shouldn’t!)

Other nit-picky things I wish were different in QB 2009:

• I have yet to figure out how to duplicate invoices. There’s a menu item for it, but it is always grayed out.
• The memorized invoices list is a bit wooden and unfriendly. Why can’t it just be called reoccurring invoices?
• You lose all your new data if your server connection crashes during an active session. It looks like it is auto-saving, but it’s not. Close the program often if you are working in it all day.
• The report center shows pretty charts on the preview cover flow window, but in reality they are pretty boring.
• Can’t multi-select rows in memorized invoices or importing transactions.
• Have to set up a new category for every payee and classify them as vendor, customer, employee or other. This is a bit time-consuming and seems a bit unnecessary.
• Never supported Macs as well as it should.
• It seems like Quicken has some more advanced usability features than Quickbooks.
• You can only search customers by the first word in the title field, not by your contacts. It looks like it is using Spotlight, but not really.
• Customer service has a lot to be desired (see below).

I’d give Intuit’s Quickbooks 2009 a very Microsoft average “C” rating. They improve the program only when necessary, but everyone uses it. I look forward to the day when a superior competitor comes on the scene.

I thought it was very helpful, and since I’ve recommended it to many, I thought I’d post it here too, along with a 10 second blurb on the highlights.

Highlights: Friend lists with different permissions; keep tagged photos private (and avoid the downfall of many); protect your albums; and make your contact info private.

Happy reading and setting up those Facebook permissions!

Here’s the link to the article. 

I especially enjoyed this short checklist:

• Did I stick to my allotted time?
• Did I develop and present purposefully?
• Was I thoroughly prepared?
• Did I capture attention at the very beginning?
• Did I positively influence listeners?
• Was I appropriately entertaining, or at least not boring?
• Did I end only once?

To read more, go to http://www.maximumimpact.com/articles/read/article_7_reasons_why_speakers_flop/.

Here’s a few more tips to follow to improve your writing process:

• Read out loud. After writing, speak what you write. This unveils awkward phrasing, gaps in the structure, and areas that need revision.
• Strengthen verbs. Replace ho-hum verbs like “go” and “made” with powerful action verbs like “build” and “discover.” Look for spots where other modifying words are watering down your words, “like trying to communicate.” Drop the “trying to.”
• Evaluate the tone (or attitude). Is your writing friendly, funny, professional, intense, curt, pushy or cold? I get a letter from my health insurance that always starts with, “To get the most from your benefits, you need to understand how your plan works.” The bossy, arrogant tone of this first sentence irritates me every time I get the letter. Sometimes a small tweak can drastically improve the mood of what you’re writing.
• Keep it brief. One of the tricks I learned from years of working with a magazine is to cut the word count by 100 words if possible. This will help you to tighten the article, get rid of any duplication and focus your message.
• Get feedback. Find someone to review and proofread your work. You will make mistakes. But with an extra set of eyes, you can avoid a lot of embarrassment and reap a great reputation for you and your company.
• Double-check people’s names. Last stop before completion: fact-check names and other pertinent details. It only takes a minute, and it is worth it every time.

Take to the time to produce great writing. Fine-tune your efforts, and you’ll get more return on your time investment. (And you can avoid looking stupid…who wouldn’t want that?)

Writing has never been more important as we all spend hours every week writing emails. Although this list applies to nearly all business and promotional writing, I wouldn’t suggest applying it to essays and creative writing.

This is, however, a great checklist the next time you sit down to write anything. I know I’ll be using it to polish up the article I wrote last week.

Here’s a few tips to follow to improve your writing process:

• Determine the purpose. Start out by jotting a few notes: Who is going to read this? What main points do you want to make? What actions do you want to inspire the reader to take?
• Structure the outline. Even a simple business letter or email improves drastically with a little forethought. Clarify what you are communicating and plan the flow of the piece.
• Keep paragraphs short. My general rule is to keep paragraphs under 3 sentences for most purposes. Think about thick, black blocks of impenetrable text. Don’t you find that daunting as a reader?
• Use bulletpoints, highlighting, and subheads. These “reader entry points” help a reader scan and follow along with what you are saying. They make reading easier. Plus, they often show the writer when a point or paragraph is unclear.
• Know your style. Most people don’t realize that many writing styles exist, each with its own set of rules. Most business people are familiar with Modern Language Association (MLA), which is taught in English class. Publications use Associate Press (AP) style or Chicago Manual. The science and education fields use American Psychological Association (APA).

So often, bad writing results from rushed, sloppy words. Good writing can evoke joy, teach new skills, inform and entertain, and improve lives, not to mention increase your paycheck!

I’ve done it on the cheap and with a big budget. And, since I only had one video class in college, I learned from experience…and from my incredibly talented crew of video editors, videographers, and directors.

Plus, most of the videos I created played in front of a crowd of 500+ people, and there’s nothing like a live reaction to know if the video is a success or a flop. Luckily, I experienced more successes than flops!

Video Creation Tips:

• Have a point: what is the action you want the audience to take or the piece of information you want them to remember?
• Keep it brief: Five minutes of video is an eternity. It doesn’t matter that you spent 3 days shooting the footage. Be ruthless when you cut.
• Cut ruthlessly: Remove anything that doesn’t move the video forward.
• Consider the audience’s perspective: It’s not all about you.
• Boring is boring: If it puts you to sleep, no magic can make it interesting.
• Entertain: Be funny (or fun) if you can.
• It’s a video for a reason: Provide as many visuals as you can.
• Set the tone: Music is really important.
• Make it flow: Have a plan and work on the transitions. People remember stories as long as they’re brief.
• Be considerate: Make people look good.
• Go for quality: Hire a good editor and videographer or learn to be the best yourself.

Videos are a powerful medium; I hope you get the most bang out of your buck!

Here’s 6 ways to create a press release that everyone will love:

1. Ask your self, “Who cares?” What is newsworthy about this topic? Make it relevant to your audience or postpone the idea until you come up with a good news angle.

2. Create an informative, benefits-oriented headline. This is the one sentence that everyone will read: make it good! For a product release, tell the reader how the product helps them. For any other topic, tie it in with a big picture issue or trend.

2. Simplify, condense, and streamline. Make it easy for people to read and understand what you are communicating.

3. Tell readers how to take action. If you want them to register for an event, buy a product, participate in a survey or call their legislator, tell them how to do it.

4. Use testimonials. Using quotes from customers or supporters brings other perspectives into your release, while also increasing the credibility of what you are saying. This takes extra effort, but is always worth it.

5. Provide a contact person’s name, phone number and email. I really dislike reading a release on a company’s Website, but not being able to find any way to get more information. I don’t want to call an 800 number; I want a person. Don’t block people from calling you.

6. Use AP style. Pros know the format of a press release and so do publication editors. Make it easy to copy and paste the text in your press release so you will get published more often.

The press release is under-utilized in marketing and sometimes mangled by those eager for free publicity. Regardless, it’s a great tool to get the word out!

It was put together by the SCC Speech and Communications Department, which includes Darren Osburn, associate professor, who I knew from our days together at Culver-Stockton College. The other panel organizers were: Curt Van Geison, professor and program coordinator of speech and communications, and Lee Ann Nelson, associate professor of speech and communications and internship coordinator.

On the panel, I was joined by Lisa Bedian, community relations director for the City of St. Peters, Mo; Mike Elam, account manager at KMOX radio; Heather McDorman, associate vice president for marketing & communications at St. Charles Community College; Tom Wheatley, sports journalist who most recently worked for St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

We spoke to two different groups of students, and we really appreciated their ability to listen, participate, and ask questions. I thought the students were much better behaved than the groups of CEOs that I’ve observed.

I wanted to share some of the career tips that were discussed (some specific to communications, some more broad):

1. Learn to be a good writer – no matter what you do, you’ll need able to communicate well with others.
2. Learn to be a good talker – a great letter can get you in the door, but you are also judged on the way you speak. If you sound stupid, people think you are stupid.
3. Learn how to network – it’s who knows you that will make a difference in your career.
4. Get involved in your community – this is a subpoint of networking, but how else are you going to get to know people? If you are doing good stuff for the world you live in, you’ll meet other successful people. And although you shouldn’t develop relationships for the wrong reasons, someday some of these people might be a position to help you.
5. Find something you like to do and do it with excellence – (and I’d like to add: even if you don’t like what you’re doing, still do your best). Others respect people who work hard and always do quality work.
6. Make sure your Myspace and Facebook pages have appropriate content - only put stuff out in the public that you wouldn’t mind anyone seeing, even your grandma or your worst enemy. Employers will see what the Internet says about you.
7. Say thank you - everyone appreciates a grateful person.

I learned a lot from the other panelists, and I am glad to have made their acquaintances. I hope we provided value to the students, and that they will be very successful in whatever work they do. Thanks again to Darren for the opportunity.

A side note: Since this was public speaking, I took my own advice and practiced my intro about 9 times this morning. Although I didn’t use a word of it for the real thing, it did build my confidence and remove my nervousness.