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 Episode 15 {How to Recruit the Very Best People} [31:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In business, we all compete for the very best people. We visit with two experts today to gain insight into real-world techniques for recruiting the very best staff.

My first guest is George Lessmeister. George has fourteen years of documented success within the specialty recruiting industry. A former Sr. Regional Vice President with an international financial staffing firm, he was instrumental in the growth and development of a nine-branch region in the Central United States. Today George is President and co-founder of LGC Associates, a staffing firm specializing in the recruitment and placement of business administration professionals and food service and hospitality professionals.

George really knows his stuff! One important lesson I learned from this interview is that using the services of a good recruiting firm is of no cost to you until and unless you hire a candidate supplied by them. What a great way to reduce risk.

My second guest, Lorraine Ball, is the Founder of Roundpeg, a national, full service marketing firm helping small business owners find a starting point for growth and change. Lorraine’s articles on marketing, planning and business development have been featured in Contracting Business, The New York Forum, The Indianapolis Business Journal and The ACH&R News.

In addition to much great social networking advice, Lorraine suggested an online contact management tool you can find here: Jibber Jobber

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 Episode 14 {Duct Tape Marketing} [13:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

If you are an avid reader of the hugely-popular Duct Tape Marketing blog, you’ll want to rush right out and buy John Jantsch’s latest book entitled Duct Tape Marketing - The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide.

I had a chance to chat with John about his book, his theories on marketing and some of the common marketing “pitfalls” business owners fall into. What I really like about John’s approach is that he demystifies marketing. He has this way of making it all sound fairly simple and, most importantly, attainable.

If you’re interested in purchasing his new book, I would suggest checking out his bonus offers page. If you haven’t read the Duct Tape Marketing blog, here are two of my favorite recent posts of John’s:

Does your firm suffer from feature creep? (How true it is!!)

Basecamp for Lead Generation (Very clever!)

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 Episode 13 Permission-Based Marketing: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 Special Interview with Cantaloupe & JibJab: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode, Tony and Alan discuss many aspects of Permission-Based Marketing, including tips and tricks for your company’s email campaigns.

As an added bonus, this show features a special interview with John DiGregory and Tom Corey of Cantaloupe Shows. Cantaloupe is an Indianapolis company specializing in permission-based marketing, leveraging video to tell their client’s stories. Also featured: a portion of Alan’s tBGR interview with JibJab’s Greg Spiridellis.

View the Cantaloupe Six reality series.

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 Episode 12 - Quick and Dirty [8:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s been a while since we’ve posted a podcast here at Promethius. It’s not from boredom or lethargy. Things are hopping here!!! Tony Valle tunes in to give you all a quick update on some recent goings on at Promethius.

We’ll see you next week with a behind the scenes look at the forthcoming Promethius staff blogs. Thanks for listening!

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 Standard Podcast [18:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Alan and I had a chance to interview Buzz Marketing guru Ron McDaniel about his latest book Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing - 57 Word of Mouth Marketing Challenges for the Entire Workforce.You’ll have to wait about seven more weeks before the book hits stores, but our podcast interview with Ron should hold you over until then. You can reserve your copy here (as I did weeks ago).

Also make sure to check out Ron’s blog. It’s full of great ideas about how to generate and sustain buzz.

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 Episode 10 [34:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Local business networking legend Lorraine Ball was an absolute joy to have in the studio. Our lengthy interview covers many of Lorraine’s ideas on how to best spend your time and resources connecting with top prospects and referral sources.

I got a chance to ask Lorraine about her concept called “The seven second sound bite.” It’s true that you only have a few precious moments to make an impression on a new prospect. For another perspective, Former CEO of LeTips, Patrick Carney, has a good blog post about how to deal with the time-crunch surrounding a first impression.

Make sure to check out Lorraine’s various online resources:

roundpeg IndyBiz Rainmakers NoWIB lorraineball.com Squidoo Lense

Other recommended reading on building up your referral network:

John Jantsch’s recent post - Who should I Target for Referrals?

Sitepoint’s - Some Quick Secrets to Asking Clients for Referrals.

This post is written from a recruiting perspective, but the ideas apply to referral building in general.

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 Episode 9 [26:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In past shows, we have discussed wikis, blogging and podcasting. This time we tackle the buzz-laden topic of “WEB 2.0.” It seems that just about everyone has at least heard the term, but it’s difficult to find anyone who can really tell you conclusively what WEB 2.0 really is. We hope to shed some light with today’s discussion.

Brigid Barnacle from Trenton New Jersey writes in:
I keep hearing the term “Web 2.0” thrown around, but I can’t seem to figure out what it is. Is it a language? Is it a piece of software? If it’s so popular, why can’t anyone explain exactly what it is?

Alan had a little too much fun calling local businesses in town to see if he could get any answers about WEB 2.0. We play some of the phone calls throughout this segment. Does this mean Promethius endorses “prank” calling? Look out Jerky Boys!

First of all, WEB 2.0 is partly a buzzword, just like “.NET” or “Ajax.”

But main elements surrounding the buzzword involve “open data,” (see flickr), “participation,” (see digg).

Other concepts mentioned: WEB 1.0, Collective Intelligence, e-Commerce rating systems

Sites Mentioned: flickr, digg, wikipedia, youtube, netvibes, yousendit, del.icio.us, newsvine

Applications Mentioned: Basecamp, Pretty CMS 2.0

{update - 9/21/2006} -  Ken Yarmosh has a recap of the “New New Internet Conference,” and it just makes me laugh, because the term “Web 2.0″ is strewn all about, but it still doesn’t really tell us anything specific.  Web 2.0 has to be one of the most majorly over-used buzzwords of the decade!