Introverts vs. Extroverts: How to Get Along at Work

Credit: ArtFamily/Shutterstock

No one is a pure introvert or extrovert. However, every workplace has representatives of each personality type, and there are a few fundamental differences between the two that affect how they interact with their colleagues. Introverts tend to keep to themselves, preferring one-on-one conversations and solo work. Extroverts enjoy group projects, talking through their thoughts and connecting with others throughout the day. These behaviors often lead to unfair assumptions and judgments about both groups, which may cause tension within the team.

"Typically, extroverts see introverts as unsocial, inadequate, shy, secretive and aloof non-contributors," said Jim Lew, a diversity trainer and organizational development expert. "Introverts describe extroverts as aggressive, egotistical, unaware, rude and socially needy. While there may be a kernel of truth to these generalizations, the tone is angry and accusatory, rather than appreciative."

Organizational psychologists and career experts shared some tips for employees and their bosses to help introverts and extroverts succeed in the workplace. 

How to work with an introvert

"Pause and take a breath before switching subjects. Play to the introvert's preference for preparation by giving them meeting agendas ahead of time." – Jennifer Kahnweiler, author of "Quiet Influence: The Introvert's Guide to Making a Difference" (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2013)

"When discussing projects [with] introverts, you are not going to get lots of verbal feedback. That doesn't mean they aren't listening or that they have nothing to say. An introvert prefers to take some time to process information and respond in a way that's most comfortable for them, such as via a well-written email. You'll get the most out of an introverted employee by giving them clear expectations and a lot of space. As long as goals and deadlines are understood, there's no need to hover over their shoulders and micromanage." – Tim Backes, career adviser at Resume Genius

"For busy workplaces that default to group meetings to save time, the one-to-one communications get sacrificed and so do the introverts. Go electronic [with idea-sharing]. Recently, we have seen a spike in crowdsourcing. This type of idea-sharing allows for introverts to provide their thoughts in a setting that is suited for their social abilities. Organizations have seen significant and meaningful contributions through this method." – Jim Lew

"Introverts are more reserved, making them more difficult to get to know. [This] doesn't mean they do not like people or are not friendly. They typically prefer a few good friends over many acquaintances. In addition, extroverts need to understand that introverts have incredibly valuable input, but they need to be given air time as they typically will not demand it." –Lisa Tesvich, organizational psychologist and consultant

How to work with an extrovert

"Introverts need to know that their extroverted colleagues have an essential need to speak, and that they have important things to say. However, [introverts] must respect themselves and the contributions they can inevitably add to the decision-making process. They must learn to assert themselves, breaking out of their 'quiet' posture to speak up about the insights that have been percolating in their brains while the extroverts have been speaking." – Marc Miller, president of MLM Coaching and Consulting

"With an extrovert, you may want to test what you hear them say by asking questions. Introverts can believe that since the extrovert spoke that it might be a well-honed thought, which may not be true at all. An extrovert tends to think out loud by talking [and] gains energy both by talking as well as by [interacting] with others. This means that some of what you hear come from them may be all part of working through their thinking." – Dorothy Tannahill-Moran, founder of The Introvert Whisperer blog

"Plan to give the extroverts some face time, since they need to talk out their ideas and bounce things off [others]. Also, put extroverts in roles where they can connect with people." – Jennifer Kahnweiler

How to manage a team with different personality types

"The manager needs to recognize each team member's personality type and delegate tasks in such a way as to highlight employees' strengths and mitigate their weaknesses. You don't want to ask a talented yet scatterbrained extrovert to take lead on a project that requires an extreme attention to details." – Tim Backes

"An employer would do well to actively facilitate conversations from introverts and limit extroverts' talking so they don't dominate any group action. Extroverts can easily annoy an introvert by noise and too much talk, although you may never outwardly know when that has taken place." – Dorothy Tannahill-Moran

Where do you fall?

If you're curious about where you are on the introvert-extrovert spectrum, this informal quiz, excerpted from "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking" (Crown, 2012) by Susan Cain, can help you get a general idea. The questions were formulated based on characteristics of introversion accepted by contemporary psychologists and researchers. Answer "true" or "false" to each of these 10 questions, choosing the answer that applies to you most often.

1. I prefer one-on-one conversations to group activities.
2. I often prefer to express myself in writing.
3. I enjoy solitude.
4. I dislike small talk, but I enjoy talking in depth about topics that matter to me.
5. I enjoy work that allows me to "dive in" with few interruptions.
6. I prefer not to show or discuss my work with others until it's finished.
7. I do my best work on my own.
8. I tend to think before I speak.
9. I feel drained after being out and about, even if I've enjoyed myself.
10. I'd prefer a weekend with absolutely nothing to do to one with too many things scheduled.

The more often you answered 'true,' the more introverted you probably are. However, Cain noted that even if you answered every single question as an introvert or extrovert, your behavior isn't predictable across all circumstances.

"We can't say that every introvert is a bookworm or every extrovert wears lampshades at parties any more than we can say that every woman is a natural consensus-builder and every man loves contact sports," Cain wrote.

No matter which side you tend toward, try to be considerate and understanding of others' viewpoints and natural behaviors when you're put in a group with other personality types.

"Sometimes as an employee or manager, you have to work with someone who has a completely opposite personality than your own," Backes said. "As long as you properly acknowledge your personality type relative to your colleague's, you should be able to find a happy medium."

Respond to Reviews Instantly with 'Google My Bussiness' App

Credit: Google

Too busy to respond to customer reviews? Google wants to help. For busy business owners who use Google+ Local, there's now an easier way to connect with customers on the go.

Google announced this week new updates to the Google My Business app, which now lets businesses better engage with customers by allowing owners to respond to reviews anytime, anywhere from their mobile devices. This means no need to set aside time to sit down and respond to reviews. You'll also know exactly when a review has been posted.

In the past, the Google My Business app provided only very basic functions like posting to Google+ and tracking website performance across Google properties. Here's what the update has to offer and what it means for small businesses.

Push notifications

Get real-time alerts every time someone posts a review about your business on Google+ Local. Then launch the Google My Business app from the push notification to easily view and respond to reviews.

Timely responses

Leaving negative reviews hanging is bad business. Doing so lets potential customers create their own judgments, leaving you defenseless and with potentially lost business. With the Google My Business app update, you can respond to reviews on the spot, giving you a chance to immediately demonstrate excellent customer service by quickly addressing issues and responding to feedback.

Better integration with AdWords Express

Whether you're promoting a product, service or event, the AdWords Express app makes it easy to advertise on the Google network using a mobile device. Now you can also track your campaigns' success through the Google My Business app. With this integration, Google My Business displays your top monthly stats and lets you easily switch to AdWords Express to make any changes to ad campaigns.

Don't see the update on your app? Google will be rolling it out over the next few days, and it should arrive on your device soon.

Health Insurance Still Too Expensive for Micro-Businesses

Credit: Christian Delbert/Shutterstock

Running a small business with only a handful of employees and minimal funding isn't easy, especially when it comes to providing health insurance. Although most microbusiness owners have their own health care benefits, most don't offer this coverage to their employees just yet, new research shows.

Only 9.6 percent of microbusiness owners have health insurance funded by their business, according to a new study from wholesale retail giant Sam's Club.

So where do other microbusiness owners get their health care coverage? Because many of these business owners are moonlighting to start their business, 35.3 percent of respondents said they get their coverage from their primary jobs. Other sources included the following:

• Insurance paid for on their own but not through the microbusiness: 25.3 percent
• Medicare: 21.5 percent
• Military or veteran benefits: 4.5 percent
• Unions: 1.6 percent
• Medicaid: 1.1 percent

Another 1.1 percent listed "other" or did not disclose their health care source. 

According to the study, 76 percent of microbusiness owners do not currently offer their employees health insurance, 63 percent never offered health care benefits in the past and 70 percent do not intend to offer coverage within the next 12 months. 

For microbusiness owners who do offer health care benefits, 78 percent plan to maintain them for the next 12 months, 10 percent intend to increase benefits and 7 percent intend to decrease them. 

But it's not that microbusiness owners don't want to offer benefits. Thirty-eight percent of respondents said they see providing adequate benefits to their employees as a major issue.

"The microbusiness owners we track in this study have demonstrated a steely resolve to know their customers and deliver quality products or services to market," said Rosalind Brewer, president and CEO of Sam's Club. "Their sometimes razor-thin margin business models do not always leave room to cover health care. Yet health benefits are a key differentiator for many microbusinesses and a recruiting tool for top talent, so it's an issue the small business community is watching closely."

The lack of health insurance among microbusinesses makes sense when you consider how they're funded. Most microbusinesses (66.6 percent) are funded through the owners' personal savings, and 40.6 percent use credit cards.

The study, which was conducted with global research company Gallup, surveyed 1,006 respondents via phone interviews. All respondents represented businesses with five or fewer employees.

iPhone 6 Plus Review: Is it Good for Business?

The iPhone 6 Plus earns four out of five stars.

The big new iPhone 6 Plus could be huge for business users. It's the first iPhone with a screen topping 5 inches, giving you tons of space to work. It also features long battery life, blazing-fast performance and genuinely innovative software features that make the big screen easier to use. And it ships with iOS 8, the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system. But it's not without flaws. The iPhone 6 Plus is a handful, and it's seriously hard to use with one hand. And the screen isn't the only thing that's been supersized — so has the price. But if you can deal with the size, cost and some annoying software limitations, the iPhone 6 Plus might be Apple's most productive smartphone yet.

Display

The iPhone has always been one of the best business phones around, but the small 4-inch screen of the last few models was just too cramped to really work on. And the standard iPhone 6, which launched alongside the 6 Plus with a 4.7-inch screen, strikes a good middle ground. So has Apple gone overboard with the iPhone 6 Plus's pocket-stretching 5.5-inch display?

First, the good. The iPhone 6 Plus's display is as practical as it is gorgeous. Screen-intensive tasks like editing a document or spreadsheet feel a lot more comfortable on the iPhone 6 Plus than on any other model, including the standard iPhone 6. Even basic tasks like browsing the Web or my email inbox were easier. The 6 Plus eliminates the need to constantly pan and swipe around your smartphone's screen; no matter what you're working on, you can simply see a lot more of it at once. Other smartphones such as Samsung's 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 4 offer higher-resolution displays, though.

Now for the bad. For starters, you can mostly forget about using this phone with one hand. When cradling the device in my right hand, my thumb didn't even come close to reaching the upper corners of the screen. I couldn't even reach the left side of the display, which presents some pretty serious usability issues; many apps require you to swipe in from the left edge to reveal a hidden menu or simply navigate to the previous page, as in the Safari Web browser.

The iPhone 6 Plus's display is actually thinner and taller than most competing phablets, a fact that annoyed me whenever I tried to type on the device. When holding the phone in portrait mode, the touch screen keyboard was still a bit too scrunched up for accurate and comfortable typing. And when I held the phone sideways, I had to seriously stretch my thumbs to tap the keys in the middle of the keyboard.

Design

The iPhone 6 Plus isn't just bigger than previous models. Alongside the standard iPhone 6, it actually sports a totally new design, with smooth, rounded edges and striking accent lines on the backside. It's a welcome change from the squared-off edges of the last few iterations. Overall, the glass-and-metal design makes the iPhone 6 Plus one of the best-looking smartphones on the market.

It's also an incredibly slim device — so much so that it's actually hard to hold onto at times. I never actually dropped the phone, but it often felt like it was about to take a tumble while I reached for one of its far corners. I much prefer the feel of the smaller iPhone 6, which is easier to grip.

Apple wisely repositioned the phone's power button from the top of the phone to its side edge, though I still had difficulty reaching it with my right thumb when I wanted to lock the screen. Fortunately, as with other iPhones, you can wake up the iPhone 6 Plus just by pressing the home button.

The baseline model comes with a measly 16GB of onboard storage, which most users will fill up fast. And like other iPhones, it lacks a microSD Card slot, so don't expect to upgrade your storage later on.

Interface

Fortunately, Apple integrated a few handy features to help you navigate the iOS interface on such a big device. Take Reachability, a feature that lets you double touch (not click) the home button to shift the active part of the screen down about halfway, so you can reach the top of an app when you're holding the phone in one hand. It's a genuinely innovate and useful feature that I would love to see other phablet makers emulate. Shifting the screen around constantly is a bit cumbersome, but it's a fair trade-off for such a big screen.

 Meanwhile, some apps have a new dual-pane mode when you're holding your phone sideways. For example, the Mail app shows a persistent navigation pane on the left side of the screen that lets you easily jump between your inbox, sent messages and drafts, without tapping through hidden menus. Dual-pane mode is also supported by the Messages app and the Web browser, among others. 

Dual-pane mode is a nice touch, but I wish that Apple had gone even further and implemented a true multitasking mode to let you run two apps side by side — a feature you'll find on Samsung's phablets. It would have gone a long way toward justifying the iPhone 6 Plus's large screen size, and really boosted the phone's potential for productivity.

Performance

The iPhone 6 Plus is powered by Apple's new A8 processor, the same chip that's in the iPhone 6. It's a powerful 64-bit processor that provides zippy performance and snappy multitasking. I was able to load and exit apps quickly, smoothly switch between apps and zoom around the interface without a hitch. The iPhone 6 Plus is more than powerful enough to satisfy most business users.

Keyboards

The typing experience is still one of the worst parts about iOS. Apple did add a predictive typing feature, which learns your typing style and suggests words as you write, but the stock touch screen keyboard itself is still incredibly basic. While Android keyboards let you long-press on letters to input symbols and numbers, Apple's keyboard forces you to constantly switch between the letter and number view. Another quibble is that the keyboard always shows capital letters on the actual keys, so you have to constantly glance over to see if the shift key is selected. That's especially annoying when you're typing in case-sensitive passwords.

Fortunately, iOS 8 finally adds the ability to install more feature-rich third-party keyboards, but it's far from a perfect fix, since Apple has placed strict limitations on keyboard developers. For example, text dictation is automatically disabled when you're using a third-party keyboard. And the ability to long-press letters for numbers and symbols is also not available, even for keyboards that offer that functionality on Android. Keyboards such as Swype and SwiftKey are still worth checking out, though, for features like gesture-based swipe typing, which is faster than tapping out words letter by letter. But these issues, on top of the size-related usability issues I mentioned earlier, make typing on the iPhone 6 Plus an uneven experience at best.

iOS 8

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus both ship with iOS 8, which includes some new, productivity-boosting features. That includes a revamped notification drawer, where you can install widgets. Widgets are like miniature apps that let you view information like the weather, stock updates and calendar appointments at a glance.

There's also a new way to act on incoming messages. When a new text message arrives, for example, a small window will appear at the top of your screen. Swipe down to reveal the keyboard, then type and hit send to fire off a quick reply — without ever launching the dedicated Messages app.

But iOS 8's best new features are the ones that help your iPhone work together with your iPad or Mac computer. For example, you can start composing an email on your desktop computer, then pick up your iPhone to keep writing on the go. You can even link your iPhone to your other Apple devices to take phone calls right on your computer or tablet.

Battery life

The iPhone 6 Plus has better battery life than any iPhone before it. It lasted about 10 hours on our battery test, which involves continuous Web browsing over LTE. That's an hour and a half longer than the smartphone average of eight hours and 30 minutes. And it easily beats the standard iPhone 6 (7:27) and long-lasting Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S5 (9:42).

Touch ID

Other smartphone makers are finally starting to incorporate fingerprint scanners into their devices, but Apple's Touch ID scanner is still the best there is. Just press your finger against the home button to scan your fingerprint and easily unlock your device. It lets you keep your work phone on lockdown, without fussing with password screens. And it's a lot more reliable than Samsung's fingerprint scanner, which often fails to read your print.

The ability to lock individual apps using Touch ID, new to iOS 8, is also great for business users. For example, if you use the Mint app to track your spending, you can lock it to ensure your data isn't tampered with. It also works with Evernote, E-Trade and many other apps, with more to come.

Pricing

The iPhone 6 Plus is a premium smartphone at a premium price. The absolute cheapest model costs $299 with 16GB of storage with a two-year contract. The 64GB model costs $399 and the 128GB model is $499. You can also pick the device up for $749 with no contract via T-Mobile. Compare those prices with the standard iPhone 6, which costs $100 less for all models.

Conclusion

The iPhone 6 Plus is a tremendous business phone with a few glaring drawbacks. Once you work on its huge, beautiful display, you'll never want to go back to your puny old 4-inch iPhone. It's fast and feature-packed, and its sleek metal design adds tons of premium appeal. But the iPhone 6 Plus isn't for everyone. It can feel totally unwieldy at times, and it lacks some key features such as split-screen multitasking and expandable storage. Regardless, it's one of the best phablets around.

The 9 Jobs Americans Fear Most

Credit: Fernando Cortes/Shutterstock

Regardless of how much money some of these jobs pay, the thought of working them leaves plenty of Americans shaking in their boots.

From standing up in front of a crowd and telling jokes to spending the day working with deadly diseases, a number of jobs are just too scary for some employees to even fathom, according to new research from CareerBuilder. This year, politicians, microbiologists for infectious diseases, kindergarten teachers and crime scene investigators are among the jobs Americans fear most.

For the study, CareerBuilder compiled the list of scariest jobs for Americans, how many brave souls actually hold the job and how much they're being paid. Here are the nine jobs that strike fear in American workers' hearts the most.

• Politician: There are 56,857 politicians in the U.S. The median hourly pay for local and state politicians is $14.77, while the average salary of U.S. senators and members of the House of Representatives is $174,000 a year.
• Microbiologist for infectious diseases: There are an estimated 20,800 microbiologists in the U.S. Their median hourly pay is $33.27.
• Security guard at teen pop idol concert: There are an estimated 1,163,023 security guards in the U.S. Their median hourly pay is $11.88.
• Kindergarten teacher: There are 158,084 kindergarten teachers (non-special education) in the U.S. Their median hourly pay is $24.81.
• Crime scene investigator: There are 128,432 detectives, criminal investigators and forensic science technicians in the U.S. Their median hourly pay is $36.32.
• Animal trainer: There are 32,360 animal trainers in the U.S. Their median hourly pay is $12.24.
• Mortician: There are 27,505 mortician, undertaker and funeral director jobs in the U.S. Their median hourly pat is $23.13.
• Radio, cellular and tower equipment installer and repairer: There are 16,213 radio, cellular and tower equipment installer and repairer jobs in the U.S. Their median hourly pay is $21.97.
• Stand-up comedian: There are 37,272 jobs in this field that includes entertainers and performers, athletes and related workers in the U.S. Their median hourly pay is $16.89.

The study was based on surveys of 3,103 workers across a wide range of industries. CareerBuilder pulled employment data for each occupation from Economic Modeling Specialists Intl.

The impact of numerology over the names

Whenever an infant is born into a family, it’s a norm to first assess him/her with a name. The name of a person is just not a word to be referred to them but actually is the definition, a description of their personality and the briefing of their traits. It should be made very sure that while naming a person all the necessary measures are taken care of. They say that labeling of a product is done properly to define the quality of that product. The same theory can be applied upon assessing names to the young ones too. The better the name the more illustrative would be the definition.

 

While a lot of people who believe in ancestry, name their children on the basis of their legacy or the family trees, while others who believe in Numerology have different opinions. The people who believe in numerology work and practice a lot with numbers before naming their kids. In numerology each letter of your name is said to have an individual corresponding number. Cornerstone is said to be the first letter in your name while capstone is said to be the last one. Under Numerology the first vowel is also given sheer importance, as it is said to fulfill all your urges and dreams in life. Each and every letter in this section has a meaning of its own and preparing a name with all those combine meaningful letters will eventually make out the best desired result. The sum of the numbers in your birth date and the sum of numbers you make out while naming a person displays a great deal in the character, the future, the strengths and the weakness of an individual. Numerology helps in standing and fighting against all these weaknesses and odds. Believers say that numerology make you achieve whatever you want in life, and not just infants, a lot of people change their names in the later stages of their life too after realizing the problems they are suffering in their lives and in order to fight against them. This concept of Numerology was initially brought up by the Babylonians but gradually everyone started practicing it and eventually it became so popular and effective that now it is practiced across almost all over the world. There might be no scientific proofs about the authenticity of these numerology charts, but people still have faith in ample numbers about the relationship of words and numbers.

 

People also believe that in Numerology the on goings and the redemption is based upon three major factors; the date of birth, the name given to you on your birth and the name you use currently. The third factor can well be managed according to the needs and necessary requirements by the Numerology charts. There are ways to work over your names even if you’re a grown up in order to get over the grey shades you are going through in your personal lives. So everyone needs to go through that Numerology chart while assessing their young ones with new names.

 

Browse through name meaning, rankings, other people's comments, ratings, and other statistics in addition to the name meanings.

 

Twitter-IBM Partnership Brings Social Data to Businesses

Credit: 360b/Shutterstock.com

It's no secret that Twitter is a gold mine for data, but until now, those analytics had been limited to things like mentions, followers and trends. Now, Twitter and IBM are taking social data tracking to the next level.

This week, Twitter and IBM announced that they're partnering to bring social insights to businesses by integrating Twitter data with IBM's tools, solutions and services. The move aims to help businesses get answers to their most pressing Twitter marketing questions, gain a better understanding of how Twitter is working for them and use that information to make wiser business decisions.

"Twitter provides a powerful new lens through which to look at the world — as both a platform for hundreds of millions of consumers and business professionals, and as a synthesizer of trends," Ginni Rometty, chairman, president and CEO of IBM, said in a statement.

Here's what the Twitter and IBM partnership means for small businesses.  

Discover patterns and answer questions

Thanks to the new partnership, you'll be able to go beyond tracking mentions of your business in tweets. Now, you'll be able to use Big Data tools to mine Twitter for trends and answer critical strategic questions. For example, Chris Moody, vice president of data strategy at Twitter, said IBM's famous computer Watson can answer such questions as, "What do customers like best about my products?" and "Why are we growing quickly in Brazil?"

Build custom solutions

You'll now be able to create solutions that are catered to your business. IBM representatives said the company is training tens of thousands of consultants to help businesses with custom applications for both their Twitter data and the implementation process.

Use IBM's tools or your own

Twitter's data will already be integrated with IBM's Big Data analytics tools, so you can get started right away. But if you want more control and have developers on your team, they'll also be able to integrate Twitter data into your business's own cloud applications, so you can incorporate Twitter insights into your own analyses.

The partnership will start with building applications and services for sales, marketing and customer service. The first app aims to help companies better engage with customers on Twitter.

Future plans include industry-specific solutions for sectors such as banking, consumer products, transportation and retail.

Turning Employees into Social Media Ambassadors ... Gently

Credit: nopporn/Shutterstock

When it comes to social media, your employees are just like any other consumer: They talk to friends, share opinions and discuss their interests and hobbies. Perhaps most important, they also post about their experiences with the brands they buy from.

Many companies have already made the connection between employee social media activity and brand advocacy and realized its marketing potential. Who better to promote the brand to the larger social sphere than the people who work with it on a daily basis?  These employers then encourage their staff to post on behalf of the company from their personal accounts, which sounds like a good idea in theory, but is difficult for many companies to execute well.

"If companies are focused on turning employees into billboards, [employees don't] understand what's in it for them," said Jason Seiden, CEO of employer branding tool Brand Amper. "Companies don't explain why it's good for employees to promote the company."

While the advantages of positive brand messages on social media is obvious for an employer, employees themselves can benefit on a personal and a professional level from attaching themselves to their company in their social profiles and posts. For example, a CNN anchor looking to speak with a source will likely get the interview simply by introducing him- or herself by title because the brand is well-known and respected, Seidan said.

"Let the company's brand do its work for you," he told Business News Daily. "You don't even have to brag [when making a professional request]. You look good by association."

This is the case Seiden advised employers to make to their staff about being engaged with the company on social media, but he also noted that you have to let employees decide for themselves whether they want to be involved.

"Organizations should make [social media engagement] opt-in," Seiden said. "Leave it in the employee's hands to decide."

If your employees do choose to opt-in to social brand promotion, Seiden offered a few best practices for getting authentic engagement from them.

Create guidelines, not prescriptive policies. When crafting an employee social media policy, many employers take a "what not to do" approach and instruct employees to avoid certain practices in discussing the company in their social posts. Instead, Seiden recommended giving general guidelines and showing employees examples of successful profiles to model theirs after.

Allow for flexibility and freedom of expression. A big mistake companies make when trying to engage their employees in social brand conversations is dictating cut-and-paste bios or phrases that staff members should use in their posts and profiles. Seiden noted that employees need to be allowed to speak in their own voice if you want genuine, positive engagement. Refer to your guidelines and help employees craft their own personal brand messages, rather than telling them what to say.

Be mindful of employees' feelings toward mixing personal and professional. Some employees have no problem blurring the line between personal and professional on social media, but others may feel uncomfortable crossing that line between work and play in a public forum.

"The line has been perforated," Seiden said. "There's a desire to keep these worlds separate, [but] you can't. It may be technically easy [to post about your company], but there's an emotional challenge that goes along with it. Make sure you have an appreciation for that when coming up with guidelines."

Most Consumers Buy into Local Holiday Shopping

Credit: Hasloo Group Production Studio/Shutterstock

More customers turn to local small businesses for their holiday shopping than you might realize. Why? It's not just because these companies are nearby; it's because consumers want to support local businesses.

In fact, 65 percent of consumers plan to complete up to 75 percent of their holiday shopping in-store at a local small business, according to new research from digital marketing solutions firm G/O Digital. Only 1 percent of respondents said they would be not be completing any of their holiday shopping at local small businesses.

And consumers' reasons for shopping local are great news for small business owners. These were the top three reasons consumers gave for why they would buy holiday gifts in-store from a local small business instead of a national brand:

• Thirty-seven percent said they want to support local businesses and contribute to those companies' economic growth.
• Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) said they can find unique products and services at local businesses that cannot be found elsewhere.
• Twenty-two percent said the prices are more affordable at local businesses.

Some respondents also said that the quality and selection of merchandise is better, and the customer service is friendlier and more helpful at local stores.

However, while many consumers plan to shop at local stores, the vast majority of customers check online first. According to the survey, 84 percent of respondents use an online channel first before purchasing holiday gifts in-store from a local business, and 73 percent of those customers use Google to research gifts from local retailers.

The good news is, while many shoppers search for certain products nearby, 36 percent said they actually look up businesses by name to find the products they're looking for. The most important thing they search for? Prices (46 percent).

And if you think it's already too late to start marketing for the holidays, don't worry.  According to the findings, 50 percent of consumers plan to do the majority of their holiday shopping in the three weeks leading up to Christmas, so there's still time.

The study, which received 1,023 responses, surveyed U.S. adults ages 35 to 54 who expressed interest in shopping locally and owned at least one desktop or laptop computer and a smartphone or tablet.

 

Rise and Shine! 5 Ways to Make Yourself a Morning Person

Credit: Solar Seven/Shutterstock

While not everyone would label themselves a "morning person," those employees who do are likely to get more work done each day, new research finds.

More than 60 percent of executives feel they are most productive in the mornings, with 72 percent saying they are most creative before noon, according to a study from The Creative Group, a specialized staffing service for interactive, design, marketing, advertising and public relations professionals.

"Starting the day on a strong note can mean the difference between getting ahead or falling behind at work, and avoiding long hours at the office," Diane Domeyer, executive director of The Creative Group, said in a statement.

To help get their day started off on the right foot, The Creative Group offers these tips.

• Have a plan: Employees are setting themselves up for failure by having an overambitious schedule each day. Try taking a few minutes either the night before or in the morning to create a realistic to-do list for the day. Make sure to prioritize the tasks that are the most important and plan the rest of the day around them.
• Stay focused: Since people are more efficient when working for a longer period in the same mental mode, as opposed to constantly changing assignments, try grouping together tasks that require similar effort or resources in the same time frame.
• Cut out distractions: While surfing the Internet and social media may provide workers with creative stimuli, they can also become a big distraction. To increase productivity without cutting off sources of inspiration, set designated periods to surf the Web in the afternoon or after completing a major to-do. Turning off email and app notifications so you're not tempted to review messages as soon as they arrive is another way to limit their distractions.
• Don't procrastinate: Even the best employees have times where they put off working on an unpleasant or overwhelming assignment. To combat this, try breaking the project into smaller, more manageable, tasks.
• Don't forget to recharge: Workers should be sure totake short breaks to help replenish their energy and fight off fatigue.

The study was based on approximately 200 telephone interviews with marketing executives randomly selected from companies with 100 or more employees and 200 telephone interviews with advertising executives randomly selected from agencies with 20 or more employees.

Great Customer Service Is Key to Free Publicity

Credit: Minerva Studio/Shutterstock

Never underestimate the importance of good customer service — it could mean the difference between success and failure for your business.

More than two-thirds of American consumers said they're willing to spend 14 percent more on average with a company that delivers excellent service, according to new survey from American Express.

And it's not just about making more sales. Providing great customer service could get you free publicity, too. Forty-six percent of respondents said they always tell others when they've had good service interactions, and 42 percent said that a recommendation from a friend or family member is more likely to get them to do business with a new company.

"Good service is good business because it creates impassioned, loyal customers," said Kelly Fisher, senior vice president of relationship care strategy at American Express. "Those engaged customers spend more and share their excitement with others, which often influences their buying decisions."

But if consumers are quick to discuss good customer experiences, what happens when they experience poor customer service? Even more customers (60 percent) are likely to share their bad experiences with others, and they tell nearly three times as many people.

And just one bad experience could turn your customers off for good. Thirty-seven percent of consumers said they'll switch companies after one instance of poor service, and 58 percent are willing to endure only two or three instances.

Customers aren't just spreading the word about your business face-to-face, either (though 9 in 10 consumers do, good or bad). Fifty percent of respondents use company websites to share their experiences, 49 percent do so via text messaging, 47 percent do so through social media, and 46 percent use consumer review websites.

"People are going to talk about your service, one way or another, so what do you want them to be saying?" Fisher said. "In an environment where the recommendation of a friend is so important in driving a consumer's purchasing decisions, creating good service experiences is extremely important."

These findings come from American Express' annual Global Customer Service Barometer. The study surveyed a random sample of 1,000 U.S. consumers ages 18 and up. Research was conducted with marketing performance specialists Ebiquity.

Facebook Leads Social Traffic, Pinterest Second

Credit: Bloomua/Shutterstock

Social media marketing is one of the most effective ways to increase traffic to your website. But forget sites like Twitter, Reddit, StumbleUpon and LinkedIn. A new report reveals that Facebook and Pinterest — and maybe even Google+ — are your safest bets.

Content sharing and amplification platform Shareaholic released this week its quarterly social media traffic report, indicating that Facebook drives the most traffic to websites, with Pinterest being its strongest contender. Google+, though further down the totem pole, is also on the rise. However, channels like StumbleUpon, Reddit, YouTube and LinkedIn probably aren't worth your time or dime, the report revealed.

Shareaholic's report includes both quarterly and year-on-year data covering activities across more than 200,000 websites and 250 million unique visitors. Here are the key takeaways.

Facebook is a traffic gold mine ...

Facebook is still king when it comes to converting social media marketing campaigns to website visits. It drives four times as much traffic as Pinterest, its closest social traffic competitor, and blows away other social networks. This is due, in part, to Facebook's ability to deliver highly personalized content that customers actually care about. Shareaholic says Facebook's share of traffic has "exploded," growing 115.63 percent since September of last year and driving 22.36 percent of overall traffic to websites.

… But watch out for Pinterest

Pinterest may not be as big as Facebook or Twitter, but with an estimated 70 million users — and a huge following among American women — it drives far more traffic than Twitter and is creeping up on Facebook. Pinterest is now the second-largest social traffic referrer, driving 5.52 percent of total visits. That's a 50.07 percent growth since last year, blazing past Twitter, Reddit and StumbleUpon.

Twitter may not be the way to go

Twitter marketing is far from ineffective, but its share of social traffic has steadily declined. The microblogging website has referred only 1.17 percent of social traffic to websites, down 24.97 percent over the past year. Because of this, Twitter is "losing influence and clout," Shareaholic found.

And the other five are 'forgettable'

Shareholic considers StumbleUpon, Reddit, Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn to be in a class of their own. Combined, these channels drove less than 1 percent of overall traffic in the last month alone. Individually, the numbers speak for themselves:

• StumbleUpon. Peaked at .99 percent of traffic referrals in September 2013, but sank to 0.41 percent in March 2014, for a 26.49 percent year-on-year share decrease.
• Reddit. Plummeted 30.56 percent from September 2013 to September 2014, with traffic shares declining from .26 percent to .18 percent.
• YouTube. Once the fifth-highest driver of social media traffic, the video-sharing platform's traffic shares plunged more than 87 percent over the past year. It only accounts for .04 percent of traffic as of September 2014.
• LinkedIn. Like YouTube, LinkedIn drives only .04 percent of traffic. This is down 47.37 percent since September 2013.

There may still be hope for Google+, however. Besides Facebook and Pinterest, it's the only other social media channel that has experienced growth in traffic referrals. Google+'s traffic shares increased 57.02 percent, making a "modest" gain from .04 percent to .07 percent over the past year.

Debt Recovery Gets Friendly in Data-Driven Startup

Entrepreneur: Ohad Samet
Business name: TrueAccord
Years in business: 1
Website address: www.trueaccord.com

Debt recovery isn't exactly known as the friendliest of industries. No one is ever happy to receive a notice or phone call about a late outstanding balance, especially when it comes from a shady-sounding third-party collection agency. And more often than not, the collector on the other end only adds to a debtor's stress about the money he or she owes.

After his own negative experience with a collector over a forgotten store credit card, tech entrepreneur Ohad Samet decided to find a better, data-driven approach to debt recovery. TrueAccord, a fully automated algorithmic recovery system that combines behavioral analytics and a humanistic touch, is helping businesses collect outstanding payments while still maintaining positive customer relationships. Instead of harassing a debtor with stern-sounding phone calls and "final notices," TrueAccord takes a softer, gentler approach with personalized digital notifications that include colloquial language, easy click-to-pay buttons and even debt resolution advice.

CEO and co-founder Samet, a veteran in the financial services and technology industries, shared more details about his company's unique model for debt recovery, and how he hopes it will change common conceptions about collection agencies and debt itself. 

Ohad Samet, co-founder and CEO of TrueAccord
Credit: trueaccord.com

Business News Daily: What problem were you hoping to solve when you started your business?

Ohad Samet: Over 77 million Americans have had an interaction with debt collectors, and that number grows each year. The process is opaque, scary, and full of scams and intimidation. We're creating a system that makes recovery simple, easy to understand, and helps both the customer and the company they owe money to. The system also removes a lot of phone call interaction, a major cause for stress and legal issues. At the end of the day, debt can happen to anyone, and people don't deserve being treated badly just because they're late. Introducing algorithmic recovery helps them get back on their feet while the balance gets paid.

BND: Could your business have existed 20 years ago?

O.S.: Not likely. We're relying on a lot of advancements in machine learning and behavioral analytics from the past decade. We're also catering to shifting customer preferences to digital communication — 30 percent of our customers interact with us via a mobile phone, and most of them prefer email and text. Marrying advanced technology with a shift in customer behavior is a unique aspect of TrueAccord's product.

BND: What technology can't you live without?

O.S.: As a frequent traveler, Google Now does an incredible job of helping me follow my flights and travel schedule.

BND: What technology do you wish existed that doesn't?

O.S.: Teleportation! I would love to spend my days in San Francisco and my evenings in Stockholm or Tel Aviv.

BND: If you could hire one extra employee right now, what would you have that person do?

O.S.: I'm always on the hunt for great engineers. We're solving a wide variety of complex technological problems, and our Scala-based platform is quite sophisticated. There's always room for more talent.

BND: What technology do you think is most overrated?

O.S.: As someone who's worked in the payments industry for a long while, I find the fascination with Apple Pay to be premature. The payments industry is complicated and fragmented, and consumer behavior is incredibly difficult to change. I'd be faster to bet on payment technology that appeals to teenagers and takes over the world as they mature, but I've yet to see one. I don't think Bitcoin is that, either.

BND: Where do you see technology in your industry going over the next three to five years?

O.S.: I'm incredibly enthusiastic about introducing algorithmic recovery and taking recovery from the stressful call center environment into the 21st century. With regulation and advances in technology, I'm sure we'll see more large financial institutions starting to agree that recovery is yet another opportunity to retain and help your customers, and move to semi- and fully automated platforms.

BND: What's the most valuable nontech skill an entrepreneur needs?

O.S.: Learning from experience. It doesn't matter how much experience you have, there's always going to be someone with more relevant, [more] up-to-date or just better experience. Finding these people and listening to them is incredibly important. Unfortunately, for first-time entrepreneurs, there are also a lot of people who give bad advice for a living. A real expert enjoys their field so much that they will always offer some incredibly helpful tidbit before discussing compensation.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled Ohad Samet's last name.

Startup Partnerships: Choose Quality Over Quantity

Credit: Alpha Spirit/Shutterstock

While the benefits might be alluring, startups should be wary of forming alliances with too many large companies, new research finds.

When forming partnerships, small startups should focus on quality, not quantity, a study set to appear in an upcoming issue of Organization Science finds.

Researchers discovered that startups gain the most benefit by having just a small number of carefully selected alliances with larger organizations. By aligning with established companies, small startups can gain valuable access to additional resources and markets; however, as these small businesses add more outside partners, their internal capabilities will eventually weaken, the study found. When that occurs, the cost of maintaining alliances will exceed any remaining benefits for young firms.

Ramin Vandaie, one of the study's authors and an assistant professor of operations management and strategy in the University of Buffalo School of Management, said partnerships offer mutual benefits. Established companies can tap into a startup's cutting-edge technologies and potential for innovation, while young firms acquire knowledge and status from experienced partners, he said.

"But more is not necessarily better," Vandaie said in a statement. "We found the benefits of alliances with larger companies do not increase proportionally with the number of partners, but instead start to level off and turn negative as more partnerships are formed."

Overall, the research revealed that highly specialized firms experience larger benefits from alliances than do more generalist organizations.

"Small, specialized firms that have the opportunity to align with larger firms should put their expansion plans on hold to gain the full benefits of those partnerships," Vandaie said. "Later, they can use their newly developed capabilities as a basis for growth and a more reliable path to expansion."

Even though researchers focused their analysis on independent film production studios and their partnerships with major studios, the data can be applied to many industries, particularly creative fields like publishing or advertising, and professional services like accounting or law firms, Vandaie said.

The study was co-authored by University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management professor Akbar Zaheer.

Offering Wi-Fi Could Turn Your Store Into a Customer Hot Spot

Credit: steveball/Shutterstock

Want a leg up on your retail competition? Offering in-store Wi-Fi to your customers could be the key to your store's success.

Forty-seven percent of shoppers would be more likely to choose one store over another if it offered seamless, automatic Wi-Fi, a recent poll from Wi-Fi Alliance found. Twenty-eight percent of shoppers would stay in a store longer if it had Wi-Fi access, the study also revealed.

And not only are shoppers more likely to visit a store if it offers Wi-Fi — they're more likely to leave empty-handed if it doesn't.

Sixty-nine percent of consumers have used a mobile device in-store to do research or conduct price comparison on an item, and 1 in 3 respondents said they had abandoned an in-store purchase because they couldn't complete research on a mobile device.

So what does that in-store research entail? Here's what customers said they use their mobile devices for:

• Forty percent use their mobile device to look up product coupons.
• Another 40 percent look up similar products to do price comparisons.
• Forty percent take photos of products they're interested in.
• Thirty-six percent text, call or video chat someone to get their opinion on the product.
• Thirty-five percent look up product reviews.
• Sixteen percent access the store's customer service website.

Wi-Fi is so important to consumers that 74 percent of them said they were willing to sacrifice various things to have free, instant Wi-Fi access whenever they leave their houses. For example, 40 percent said they'd give up alcohol, 30 percent said they'd give up chocolate, and 28 percent said they'd give up social media.

But if business owners decide to take advantage of this and offer Wi-Fi in-store, they should make sure it's simple to connect to and doesn't require account creation. According to the survey, 64 percent of respondents said they frequently don't bother to connect to Wi-Fi because it's too much of a hassle to log into a hotspot.

The Wi-Fi Alliance is the worldwide network of WiFi providers and a global non-profit organization dedicated to wireless networking technology. The online study, which the organization conducted with market research company Wakefield Research, surveyed 1,000 U.S. and 1,000 U.K. smartphone and tablet owners ages 18 and older.

Gmail’s Inbox App Makes Managing Work Email Easy

The app is currently in beta form and only available to those who request an invite. Credit: Google

Managing your email inbox is a chore, and it’s easy to fall behind. That’s why a new app from Google’s Gmail team, dubbed Inbox, reimagines how you read and dismiss email messages to help you stay more productive. For starters, the app provides a few powerful tools that make it easy to scan and quickly dismiss messages. It also integrates to-do list functionality so you can quickly pin important messages, or snooze them so you get a second alert later. It can help you quickly pare down your personal email inbox so you can get back to work. Or, if your business uses Gmail’s business email platform, it can actually help you do your job. The app is currently in beta form and only available to those who request an invite, but it’s expected to roll out for the general public soon.

So how does it work? After you install Inbox onto your smartphone, you’ll open it the same way you would open the standard Gmail application. But instead of showing you a linear list of messages in the order they were received, the app’s main view displays messages in customizable “bundles,” which you can click to view a list of new emails that fall into each category. For example, the Finance bundle shows new bills, banks statements and other related messages, while Purchases shows messages related to online transactions. You can add new bundles, or stick with the defaults. Opening a bundle lets you quickly scan your messages and fire off individual replies. When you’re done with a bundle, simply click the check mark at the top of the list to mark all included messages as read. The feature makes finding, skimming and dismissing multiple emails a breeze.

The other main feature of Inbox is its ability to stand in as a to-do list. When you see a message that you want to save, long press it and select the pin icon. You can quickly view all pinned messages by toggling a switch at the top of the app. Meanwhile, tapping the clock icon lets you snooze a message. Pick a specific time or date to receive an alert later on, or select a location; your phone will use its built-in GPS sensor to remind you of the message when you arrive at a particular location. That could come in handy if you need to remember to reply to an important message as soon as you arrive at the office in the morning.