Everest Communications

100 Main Street, Dayton, Ohio

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:52:44 EST

Everest Communications, LLC, Main Street USA All the Way!

You can visit 30 million websites and find 30 million messages behind 30 million 'About Us' links that claim the service or product provider comes complete with this thing called 'Customer Service.' But as most of us know, it's one thing to say you're customer service focused and a completely different thing to actually provide it - in the eyes of your customers. The reality is, there's only one person who can claim a company provides quality customer service - 'and it ain't the service provider.' It's the customer.

At Everest, we're focused on what we call 'Main Street' customer service - the complete opposite of what we refer to as 'Madison Avenue' customer service. Main Street comes complete with a handshake, a face-to-face discussion of your business goals and perhaps a sandwich and/or a beer at time of your convenience. Madison Avenue customer service can be found written about on a $112,987.90 website by a company marketing superstar who needs to check with dictionary.com to make certain the phrase 'Customer Service' is not hyphenated before the page is published.

Everest Communications is the only locally owned, operated and headquartered collaborative services company in Dayton, Ohio. We've been committed to Dayton and the surrounding region since 2003 and are supported by nearly two decades of industry experience. If opportunity should cause us to get on a puddle jumper or spend a night or two in a Best Western then so be it. But we won't forget who we are and where we came from and the customers we serve. Sure, there are other monster, Fortune 500 companies who can technically do what we do but they can't deliver the full 'Main Street' package the way we can. We're about learning your business and advancing creative ways of using conferencing to create competitive advantages for your business.

Give us a shout then give us a try. We're confident you'll be glad you put your companies use of collaborative services in our hands. No bells, no whistles and no special super duper one-time offers from someone you don't know or worse yet, from someone you'll never meet. We're main street all the way.

Collaboratively yours,

Ken Charbat, President

Everest Communications, LLC

Dayton, Ohio

Conferencing News

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:52:19 EST

Conferencing News

Working-There Without Being-There!

PR Newswire

NEEDHAM, Mass., Nov. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In the summer of 2010 the nation watched in disbelief as 50,000 barrels of oil gushed every day into the Gulf from the broken Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer. A major environmental disaster was unfolding right before our eyes, but nobody from the President on down could do anything about it! The blowout preventer was one mile beneath the ocean surface, where humans cannot be.

This out-of-control environmental disaster has diminished the acceptability of offshore drilling, causing loss of jobs and increased dependence on foreign oil. It might have been quickly contained, had telepresence been developed -- as called for by artificial intelligence pioneer Prof. Marvin Minsky of MIT in his comprehensive article "Telepresence: A Manifesto," published in Omni magazine in 1980, and republished in 2010 by IEEE Spectrum.

Telepresence is a highly innovative robotic technology that could enable humans to work at a location without being there, almost as effectively as if actually there -- just as the telephone enables humans to talk at a location without being there, almost as effectively as if actually there.

In his 1980 article Minsky cited the 1979 Ixtoc Gulf oil spill as a disaster that could have been mitigated by telepresence. John Merchant believes that telepresence could have enabled human workers to quickly repair the 2010 blowout preventer while their human bodies were safely located many miles away on dry land.

In 2011 humans were very limited in their ability to work at the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan because of lethal nuclear radiation. This out-of-control environmental disaster has diminished the acceptability of nuclear power - an important energy source that could help supply the world's need for energy with no emission of climate-changing greenhouse gas. In his 1980 article Minsky also said that the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear disaster "really needed telepresence."

Merchant believes that the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster might have been quickly contained by telepresence had it been developed. Looking ahead, John Merchant sees four immediate needs for telepresence:

To contain any future offshore drilling or nuclear power accidents.
To enable first responders to deal with any dirty bomb attacks that might be made against our cities, while theirhuman bodies were safely located many miles away from the toxic agents.
To enable humans to work effectively in Earth orbit and to construct and operate facilities (civilian and military) on themoon while their human bodies were safely and economically located on Earth.

Contact:

John Merchant

RPU Technology, Inc.

781 444 9426

781 444 9855

FAX781 956 1688

Cellmerchant.j@comcast.net

Conferencing Success Snacks

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:51:56 EST

Conferencing Success Snacks

According to a recent Microsoft survey of 38,000 workers in 200 countries, 5.6 hours each week are spent in meetings and 69% feel meetings aren't productive. I'm sure you've been to a meeting that you felt was a total waste of time because the host wasn't prepared, there was no clear agenda or no one could stop talking about the topic that was supposed to be 'taken offline'.

Here are some helpful tips I learned that you can use to make your meetings more productive.

Know why you're having the meeting and your expected outcomes - Don't have a meeting for the sake of having a meeting. Have a purpose and know what you want to accomplish.
Build an agenda with time allocations - Identify the areas you want to focus on and how much time you'll spend on each topic. Send this out prior to the meeting to all the participants so your meeting stays on track.
Establish ground rules - Let people know what you expect from them (stick to the time allocations, full participation, etc.) and review the agenda.
Designate a note taker and timekeeper - Stay focused on leading the meeting and appoint others to take notes and watch the time. It's too challenging to try to do it all yourself and your participants will appreciate having your complete attention on the agenda. If you're using a conference call service, record your meeting so you can go back to it if there are questions.
Lead the meeting - Take charge and keep everyone focused. That means shutting down sidebar conversations and asking people to give their opinions.
Encourage full participation - Do this by asking directly for feedback, create break-out groups or sub-conferences if you're all on the phone. If you have on-site and remote participants, make sure to include the remote participants in the discussion.
Stay focused - Don't be afraid to ask people who go off on tangents to save it for another meeting. Your participants will be happy that you're keeping everyone on task.
Summarize to verify agreements and action items - Recap the meeting to make sure everyone knows what was agreed to and who's responsible for what.
Follow-up on assignments and agreements - Send notes so people are reminded of who needs to do what, by when and don't forget those who missed the meeting. If you recorded the conference, include the playback link for reference.
Evaluate your meetings - Ask for feedback from participants and see what you can do differently next time.

At Everest Communications we're not just focused on selling conference calling - we're focused on effective communication. When you consider the amount of time we're all in meetings it makes good sense to put forth effort at running effective meetings. Whatever it takes to help you become a more effective communicator (on or off conference services) we're interested in helping. Beyond hopefully helping with the tips above we're equally interested in hearing from you about tips you've found to be effective in your real life experiences. Let us know. Let's grow together!

The Conferencing Insider - January 2012

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:33:55 EST

Conferencing Insider - January 2012

'We appreciate everything you've done for us for the past eight years but there's been a change of plans. We're moving in a different direction. Your services at XYZ Conferencing are no longer needed so I guess this is our way of saying we're parting ways. We wish you well...'

Those were the words that were gift-wrapped and spoken to me ten days before Christmas on a windy, cold gray day at the Dayton International Airport nine years ago. On the 30 minute ride home my mind raced in a million different directions touching every emotion imaginable - the most memorable of which being confusion. How could they do this to me and why ten days before Christmas? Why did this happen? How would I deliver the news to my wife and three teen age children? As I drove up my driveway past the plastic Santa exclaiming Ho-Ho-Ho I pulled in the garage, parked the car and opened the door to my house. 'Honey, I'm home!'

What you just read was essentially the kick-start to Everest Communications, LLC - an audio, web and video conferencing reseller who caters to the SMB marketplace. Besides, I liked the conferencing business. I thought I understood the business fairly well and truly believed in the product - a prerequisite for success in selling anything from rubber bands to chicken fryers. I had good training and great mentoring. I had experience selling to individuals as well as Fortune 100 companies. I had confidence in my abilities, trust in the guy upstairs and a risk tolerance on a scale of 1 to 10 that was pushing 13. I had three children looking at college, a hefty mortgage and a handful of other debts but those were minor details that would work themselves out later. Did you know you can establish an LLC with the state of Ohio in about 20 minutes for only $75?

Today Everest sells and services its conferencing customers in all fifty states and fifteen different countries. We pride ourselves in learning what our customers goals are and only then feeling we've earned the right to do business with them another day. We can do business with anyone anywhere immediately 24/7 however our preference is to have a sandwich first somewhere on Main Street. Social media, cell phones and email are cool but they're no replacement for networking in person and getting to know your prospects and customers as people first - people with families and interests that extend to areas of life that are far more precious than those that exist in the workplace. We like our customers and like to believe they like us too. This is our niche and we're proud of it.

So if you're looking for more from a conferencing vendor than an occasional conference call and an invoice give us a call. There's more to this business than you've been lead to believe. We're the 'Little Engine That Could.' We know what small business needs because we're small business ourselves. We're committed to helping you achieve your goals. We specialize in customer service and how to use conferencing services to gain competitive advantages. We're reliable, have nearly two decades of experience and we're responsive. We're Everest Communications.

Thank you for reading!

Ken Charbat, President

Everest Communications, LLC

ken@everest-communications.com

937-293-1842

35 Ways to Market Content with Social Media

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 10:58:56 EST

35 Ways to Market Content with Social Media: Share Articles, Blogs, Videos and More
NOVEMBER 10, 2011

There is no denying that the popularity of social media is increasing by the day. For sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (herein known as “The Big Three”), the fastest growing demographic consists of users 35 years and older. Though social media was once considered a fad for kids, it has evolved into a viable marketing opportunity for business.

For the casual user, social media is a way to connect with friends and family. For the business user, social media works by sharing compelling content to capture the attention of your target audience. When you do this well, you can count on generating website traffic, client leads and even media attention.

“The Big Three” revolve around the concept of a status update. When you update your status, everyone in your network can view what you have to say. This is where the real opportunity lies. Instead of updating your status to report what you’re having for dinner or that it’s time to pick up your kids, share interesting content and watch the magic of social media unfold.

Type of Content to Share on Social Media Channels

Your new blog posts
Someone else’s blog post
An article you’ve written
An article from somewhere else
A video demonstration
A funny or controversial video
Before and after photos of work you’ve done
Humorous or inspiring photos
Client success stories/case studies
Free ebook
Special report
White paper
Upcoming event announcement
Live reports from an event you are currently attending
Book reviews/recommendations
Recommended products
Recommended services
Tips for doing something better
How-to suggestions
A series of related posts
Recent media coverage you have received
Inspirational advice (preferably your own, motivational quotes are over-used online)
Forward someone else’s update (with proper credit attribution)
Breaking news alerts
Leads for opportunities (media, clients, etc.)
Requests for participation (guest posts on your blog, speaker for an event you’re hosting, etc.)
Interesting photo from a recent event
Teleseminar/Webinar invitation
Contest announcements
Special sales, offers and discounts (delivered sparingly)
Request for audience feedback
A compelling question you want answered
Anything offered for free
Insider tips that people won’t find anywhere else
Your opinion on just about anything with target audience appeal

Secrets to Success

Content should appeal to your target audience and provide value.
Also, it doesn’t always have to be directly related to what you do. For example, a mortgage broker might share community resources, local event announcements and family-related tips. This type of information would likely be more appealing to the broker’s target audience than current interest rates and articles about mortgage insurance (though you can occasionally include those too). The point is to become a valued resource.
Follow the 90/10 rule.
Avoid selling online and you will achieve more sales. That’s right; we’re all tired of being sold to. When you provide value, you build loyalty and trust. It’s fine to include sales offers up to 10% of the time, but make sure you are primarily serving up useful content.
Use compelling titles and descriptions.
You only have a limited amount of space to share information which means that a good title can make the difference between a reader who clicks through or completely ignores your post.
Track your results.
Pay attention to user response. If you’re receiving comments and your content is being forwarded to others (for example, retweeting on Twitter), that is evidence that your efforts are working. Also, your network should be growing steadily as a result of the value you’re providing.
Use links wisely.
When you share compelling content, it provides an opportunity to link back to your website or blog. This is great for building website traffic. However, not every post needs to have a link. Mix up your posts so that some simply offer something short and sweet. You can also shorten links and track the number of click-throughs with a service like http://bit.ly.
Be consistent.
You will get the best results from marketing content through social media by participating on a regular basis. Ideally you should share something every day, even multiple times per day, to stay visible. You can automate some of your updates with services like http://hootsuite.com and http://tweetdeck.com. But don’t automate everything! Keep reading.
Engage with your audience.
Social media involves a two-way conversation. It’s not just about shoving data out into your network and waiting to reap the rewards. Reply to people who comment, forward and share useful content from others and make sure you have a human presence in social media land.
Build a social media plan.
You can venture into social media haphazardly or you can form a plan that makes sense for your business. A plan should identify your target audience, include a strategy for ongoing content generation, should identify frequency of updates and indicate the amount of time and resources you are going to allocate to managing your social media strategy.
Implement a 30-day challenge.
Use the suggestions outlined here and focus your efforts for 30 days. The results should be obvious. If they aren’t, then there is something amiss with your strategy. Ask others for input or solicit the help of a social media expert. There is opportunity for every kind of business to benefit from social media. You simply need to find the strategy that works for you.

About Our Guest Blogger
Stephanie Chandler is the author of several books including Booked Up! How to Write, Publish, and Promote a Book to Grow Your Business, LEAP! 101 Ways to Grow Your Business and From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur: Make Money with Books, eBooks and Information Products. Stephanie is also founder and CEO of Authority Publishing, a custom publisher specializing in non-fiction books, and BusinessInfoGuide.com, a directory of resources for entrepreneurs. A frequent speaker at business events and on the radio, she has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, BusinessWeek, Inc.com, Wired and many other media outlets.