Open up your mind and say, ahh...

I used to be so squeamish about asking for a sale. Now, I’m all for it. Let’s talk about that. I give some takeaway tips at the end.

Let’s use the word “sale” to mean “a request that you do something that benefits me as well as you.” For example, if I were in the religion business (which I am not, directly), my ask might be that you come to my church or that you practice religion in the way my faith practiced. If I’m a nonprofit, my “sale” might be to get your donation or your support or your extension of my information to your networks. “Sale” can be very flexible, so use it the way you want to use it.

In my case, I’m talking about the sales that have dollar signs.

Oh, and I also don’t mean “sale” as in “a discount.”

If You Don’t Ask

A few years ago, I was getting taken out to a lot of “free lunches” so that others could “pick my brain.” One day, it dawned on me: this lunch isn’t free. It’s costing me time. My information isn’t free. It’s taken me years to get it, and the people using this information are making material gain from the advice I give.

I started asking about how consultants dealt with the request for free lunch. Everyone said pretty much the same thing, “I reply back, ‘I’d love to go to lunch. Are you hiring me to consult with you for an hour?’”

Well wait, I’d say. Doesn’t that come off as scammy?

“Who’s scamming who?” My friends would ask me. You’re being asked to give away your advice and wisdom to a company or sole proprietor who’ll then use it to make money, right?

Lunch suddenly stopped being free to any but my friends.

Not a Call For You To Be Mercenary

There are thousands of reasons to offer things for free. I wrote a free ebook called Using the Social Web to Find Work, because so many people are out of work, and I thought I could help. I work with charities every month, because I think giving to causes in both time and advice is a responsibility, not just a nice thing.

Sometimes, you say yes because it’s someone who you just want to help move forward a little. I cherish a dinner I had with Dharmesh Shah, wherein which he gave me much more than I could’ve given him (some time soon for a repeat, D?). So, don’t think I’m advising you to do nothing without making a dime off it.

The road to ruin is littered heavily with people who weren’t giving plenty.

But Make the Ask

People get squeamish when asking for money, or when promoting something of value to their community. If you feel it’s a genuine value to the community, why feel squeamish? You’re providing many services for free. To ask for compensation for certain parts of the value you give away is natural and expected.

Two days ago, I published 50 Power Twitter Tools, a list of 50 pieces of advice for how to get more out of Twitter. In that posts were links to the Thesis WordPress theme (affiliate link). Why? Because I put a lot of work into that post, and it was a way to make a simple ask back: “If you’re in the market for a quality, premium theme, consider buying one from me.”

I’m working on a business blogging ebook, something to help people achieve escape velocity. I will charge for the book, because I believe people will be able to get a great deal of monetary value out of the book. Why charge? Because the effort that went into it is worth it for recovering some money for my time. And the money I make from this ebook will actually roll into building some online community platforms that I intend to launch to help educate people even further in achieving escape velocity, so one will seed the other.

Always Be Clear In Your Ask

If you’re pushing something for sale, be clear that you’re looking to sell something. I’ve recently promoted the Question the Rules project (affiliate link), as well as the Tourism Currents project. In both cases, I state that I’m an affiliate for the project (meaning I stand to gain something if you buy), but I also state what I like about the projects and what I think the benefit would be to my community.

On the other side, sometimes people ask for something, but their ask is so muddled, I can’t understand what they want. I can’t tell you how many emails I’ve sent back to people after a request that say roughly this, “I have no idea what you want me to do next.”

Think about it: they’ve attracted my attention. I’ve opened the email. I’ve skimmed through their 1000 word missive. I get to the end (or abandon it midway), and find that I have no idea what they want. Pay very close attention to my points I just made in this paragraph: I’m busy, I have limited attention, I skim, you put your ask at the bottom.

5 Ways to Get Your Ask Across

1. Make your ask clear in the subject line or at least the first paragraph. (Go back and read the 1st paragraph of this post.)
2. Make your ask simple to execute. “ConsumerQueen’s house was lost to a flood. Can you donate?” Simple.
3. Make your ask solid, not wishy-washy. “Um, if it’s not too much trouble” or related self-deprecating language gets you nowhere.
4. Make your ask brief. You’re not looking for marriage, here. Ask for something simple, something in and out.
5. Make your ask worth it for your community.

The last one, obviously, is everything.

To me, the big way that things go wrong is when we look at our community as only a marketplace to sell into. That’s where things go horribly wrong. Remember, your community is made up of many people who aren’t your buyer.

Heck, my community is mostly made up of people who offer similar services to me. You’d call them competitors. I call them friends.

So, treat your community like your most prized possession, or you’ll find yourself without one.

And never be afraid to make the ask.

Photo credit cosmic kitty

Yesterday the winner of The Betacup Challenge, a Starbucks-sponsored design contest held to tackle the overwhelming amount of coffee cup waste accrued each year, was declared.

The winning entry (see below), which was chosen by a jury of designers, engineers and entrepreneurs out of a pool of 430 designs, was surprisingly simple: It’s a chalkboard. Customers who bring in a reusable mug can put a mark on the board, and every tenth guest receives a free beverage.

“There are plenty of great reusable mugs out there,” the entry says. “But what people really need is an incentive to make the behavior change — a free cup of coffee and a bit of peer pressure.”

Shaun Abrahamson of Colaboratorie Mutopo, the social production consultancy that organized the challenge, explained that the jury was looking for an idea that could be implemented to make a difference right away — which may explain why more creative concepts, like the 100% compostable cup made out of rice husk disposables or the barcode consumers could attach to reusable mugs to redeem rewards and gain social awareness, weren’t chosen.

Colaboratorie Mutopo first began working on the contest in May 2009 in an effort to bring the best minds together to eliminate paper cup waste via design.

Every year, 58 billion paper cups are thrown away, rather than recycled. 20 million trees and 12 billion gallons of water are used to make these paper cups — enough energy to power 53,000 homes, according to the Environmental Defense Organization. That doesn’t even include the resources involved in the coffee itself, which are enormous.

“We rush in to Starbucks and grab a coffee without thinking about any of the consequences,” Abrahamson explained in an interview. ” We wanted to organize a forum where people could share their ideas [to solve the problem].”

Starbucks sponsored the contest with $20,000 in prizes: $10,000 was awarded to the entry selected by the jury, and $2,000 was given to the five ideas with the most votes from the site’s community.

Entries were posted between April 1 and June 1, during which time visitors to the site could leave comments which the designers could then use to improve their designs. “We were blown away by how far people… went to elevate [their designs] once they got feedback,” Abrahamson said.

It’s not yet clear whether Starbucks will implement the winning entry — or any of the entries — to achieve the company’s goal of serving 100% of its beverages in reusable or recyclable cups by 2015. Even if Starbucks isn’t interested in incorporating any of the proposed ideas, Abrahamson said that his team is determined to find people and companies who are. “Obviously we’re hoping that [interest] comes from Starbucks,” he added.

What do you think of the challenge and the winning design?

Nintendo may have started the motion controller phenomenon with the Wii, but Microsoft and Sony are taking the console wars to a new level. This holiday season, there will be a three-way war for supremacy of your living room.

On November 19th, 2006, Nintendo launched its seventh-generation console, the Wii. The device was unlike any gaming console ever created, due to the wireless motion Wiimote controllers. While some ridiculed it for its lack of processing power or HD graphics, its tremendous sales and reach among casual gamers have made Nintendo the top dog in the gaming market.

Now Microsoft and Sony are putting the focus on motion controllers with the Kinect and the Playstation Move respecitvely. But how will this three-way battle play out? Who will remain standing after the dust clears?

Proactive vs. Reactive

Even though the Xbox 360 came out first, the Nintendo Wii has been the undisputed winner of this generation’s console wars, at least thus far. Over 70 million units have been sold, compared to 40 million for the Xbox 360 and 35 million for the PlayStation 3.

Nintendo took a major risk with its Wiimote system. Nobody had seen anything like it before in gaming, and nobody was sure that Nintendo’s focus on casual gamers would succeed. Its proactive approach though has paid off beautifully, and Microsoft and Sony are playing catch-up.

Sony and Microsoft are tackling motion control in completely different ways, though. The PlayStation Move (which I’ve tried) uses a Wiimote-like controller and pairs it with a PlayStation Eye camera, which tracks your movement and puts it on the screen. But as I said back in March, Sony played it safe with the Move. My assessment is that it’s just a fancier and more accurate Wiimote.

Microsoft, on the other hand, realized that it couldn’t win by just improving on Nintendo’s innovations — it had to go a step further. I’ve heard nothing but excitement surround Kinect and its controller-free technology. It essentially turns the Xbox 360 into a new console by reinventing the gaming experience.

It’s Still Nintendo’s Game to Lose

In a few month, the PlayStation Move and Xbox Kinect will be out in store shelves, along with the Wii and the Wii MotionPlus, which provides more a more accurate motion control experience. You can expect a huge amount of interest from consumers in all of these motion control devices. You should also expect the motion controller wars to last for years, not months.

Nintendo has a huge lead. People still want Wiis and they still fly off shelves, especially around the holidays. The buzz and excitement around Xbox Kinect is going to hit fever pitch before its release. The PlayStation 3 has been recovering from its weak start with a “slim” version of the console, released last September.

Overall, the landscape is becoming more competitive, and the technology involved in motion controllers is still young. However, while the PlayStation Move should fare just fine, don’t expect Sony to win the motion controller war — you don’t win by playing it safe.

The ultimate battle will be between Nintendo and Microsoft, and it will last until the next generation of consoles emerges (prediction: Nintendo will come out with a new console first).

It’s Nintendo’s game to lose, but Microsoft is going to put up one hell of a fight. It should make for some incredible games.

Got2BeGreen has been testing The Green Garmento 3-in-1 Reusable Garment bag and we are nothing short of impressed. This sturdy bag serves as 3 bags in one for your laundry or clothes transporting needs.

As a garment bag The Green Garmento can be dropped off at your dry cleaner along with your clothes. Once your dry cleaning is done, it can be used in place of the plastic dry cleaning bag. This step can help to reduce the estimated 300 million pounds of single-use plastic dry cleaning bags a year that continue to clog our landfills. You can also use Green Garmento to protect dresses, suits, or other hanging garments when traveling. The Green Garmento offers a wide opening at the top for multiple hangers to easily slide through without fear of ripping; very wide gussets allow cleaned clothes to hang gently; and a sturdy side zipper allows easy access to hanging garments. It also has a large see-through front pocket for a dry cleaning ticket or a travel ID.

To use the Green Garmento as a hamper or duffel bag, just turn it upside down and a large drawstring opening allows you to fill it with a huge amount of laundry. There are sturdy multi stitched loops on the outside and inside to hang the Green Garmento if you desire. When the need comes to move the The Green Garmento to your laundry area, a large carrying/shoulder strap will easily hold the weight of all the laundry inside.

Got2BeGreen can see this product as a big sell at dry cleaning or laundry establishments. Bags come in a variety of custom colors and businesses can also order them with their name on them as avmethod of advertising.

For more information visit their website http://www.thegreengarmento.com and they say “Be fantastic and use less plastic!”

Check out the video: Green Garmento Video

Below are additional features:

• Made from recyclable non-woven polypropylene
• Recyclable & Reusable
• Breathable & water-resistant
• Machine washable (short cycle – cold) and hang dries quickly
• Length: 40″ 48″ 54″ 72″ x 25″ wide x 5.5″ deep (122 x 63.5 x 13cm)
• 6,000 cu. in. (98.3L)
• Weight: 11oz (312g)

Not sure why you would want to reinforce the noise in your head that tells you not to speak up, stand out and do work that matters, but if you do, a surefire way to do it is to focus your attention on every piece of negative feedback in your environment. Or to imagine every possible disaster that could befall you, and to do it repeatedly. Or to carefully study anonymous comments, tweets and online reviews from people who don’t like the work you’re doing. Or focus on the one paragraph in your annual review called ‘weaknesses’. Or spend the day thinking about the one slip of the tongue you made this morning…

You can listen to your customers murmur about you online, except that pleased customers tell a few people, angry ones tell everyone. So it’s really easy to misinterpret a few as a deluge.

On the other hand, once you accept that this is self-sabotaging behavior, you might choose to deliberately ignore interactions that amplify the very noise you’re trying to avoid.