Vacation Time

We are taking a break here at Mobile Atom for the next few weeks.  It's time to go off the grid for a spell in paradise. So, there will be a brief lull in the posts, tweets, shares, +ing, and Flipboard activity you have come to rely on for the latest and greatest in blogging, social media, content marketing, and responsive web design.  Thanks for following and look for a resumption of content in early June.  Have a great day.

You've Come A Long Way Dilbert

Two recent articles have provided insight on just how far office design has come since the year of my birth in 1964.  This post from the Harvard Business Review provides some history on the development of the infamous "cubicle".  Speaking of the workstations we have all sold so many of HBR says:

"...maybe we can learn a lesson from the humble cubicle. No one sets out to design the most hated office furniture of all time, unless perhaps you work for the Spanish Inquisition, and the cubicle is no exception. Originally intended to free office workers from their hierarchical, codified drudgery of an existence (can't you just taste the irony?), the cubicle has become universally loathed.

...George Nelson, Herman Miller's design director, was so disgusted that he left the project well before the Action Office II went to market. And even Robert Propst, before he died in 2000, bemoaned his contribution to what he called "monolithic insanity.""

Thankfully office design is finally hitting its stride and being driven more my research, ergonomics and human physiology, and a dawning understanding of how the human brain actually works.  The Wall Street Journal recently published this piece showing where we might be headed.  We're getting mobile and available 24/7.  Mobility, flexibility, virtual offices, co-working, hoteling and collaboration are the new buzzwords.  More and more of us are working from home and at any time of the day.

Office furniture dealers are going to have to change with the times or go the way of the vertical filing cabinet.

By the way here is an interesting Linkedin article with photo gallery about some of business' biggest movers and shakers' "workplaces".

And another article featuring off-beat and "hot offices".

By Reuben Walker

Digital Publishing Comes of Age

There has been a steady but inevitable convergence of media forms in the past years that is only intensifying as we head into 2013.  As mobile devices and tablets in general slowly replace the desktop computer and laptop so are the traditional media forms of newspapers, magazines, and television evolving and morphing into multi-aspect applications on our mobile devices.

Print copy, graphics, and photography are becoming interactive and co-joining animation, audio and video to educate and entertain us with a wide array of apps in new and exciting ways.  This trend along with the manner in which social media is changing how and what we communicate with each other point to an exciting and very promising future for digital publications and applications.

Communication with clients will need to include multiple modes of presenting your message.  Blog posts, podcasts, videos, websites and social media of all stripes will need to present consistent and targeted messages to your audience.  Audiences that will have to trust you and want the informative and authoritative answers you provide for the questions they have and the challenges they face.

The technology that allows you to do this is progressing at a staggering rate.  It is now possible with tools like Adobe's Creative Cloud to produce content that would have taken the resources of a media empire to accomplish just a decade or two ago.  Integrated media production software is allowing sophisticated data driven presentation of content that converts your communications into measurable success events both financial and otherwise.

Innovative hardware like Apple's incredible products and those from firms taking advantage of Google's Android platform provide mobile, direct and 24/7 availability for your communications with clients and prospective ones.  And these communications must be two-way conversations not one sided advertisements.  People want interactive experiences with brands they admire and trust.  Organizations must be transparent with clear, concise and consistent communications.  Social media has to be integrated into all our marketing efforts and customer service.

It can be an intimidating and at times bewildering thing for business owners to confront when they would rather be running the day-to-day nuts and bolts aspects of their enterprises.  That is why there are a growing number of nimble and innovative creative agents like Mobile Atom that can work with you to achieve the business objectives you determine with digital media, publications and applications that speak "with" your customers on a constant basis.  Contact us today with any questions about these exciting digital times we live in.

By Reuben Walker

The Future of Sales

The Harvard Business Review recently posted some extremely interesting and somewhat controversial articles about "Solution" selling - the leading sales model in the contract furniture industry.  I find their view entirely convincing as to how this technique is increasingly less effective.

This article started the fuss.

They then followed it up with this one.

The HBR recommends this selling guide.  The best salespeople are replacing traditional “solution selling” with “insight selling”—a strategy that demands a radically different approach across several areas of the purchasing process.

Our customers are more and more informed everyday and we have to recognize this in order to serve them and prosper ourselves.

By Reuben Walker

The Sitting Disease

Sitting for more than four hours a day will take years off your life.  Alarmist?  Unfortunately, true even if you exercise daily.  See this article for the slightly scary details.  And more here.  And here.  And here from the Mayo Clinic. And here from Popular Science. Geez, there is getting to be an epidemic of articles about how sitting can kill you.

Fortunately there is hope as sit-stand tables, desks and even keyboard trays are available from office furniture dealers such as our client Mason, Inc..  Some actions you can take that will help include:

• Take a five minute break every hour for a restroom visit or a drink of water.  
• Stand up and stretch for a few moments every hour.  
• Stand up while you are involved in phone conversations or webinars.
• Plan your workflow so you are in and out of the office some each day. 

DARRAN Furniture's Rift Height Adjustable Table Desk

These steps and regular exercise and good diet with appropriate workplace furniture can help you get those years back.  Check out the option below which I think is the best one.  You can even burn some calories during the day.

Life Balance Station

By Reuben Walker

Sales, Sales, Sales

Update:  Here is a post from American Express's Open Forum with with links to some great articles.

We are all salespeople.  Everyone has to sell themselves to their families, bosses, and significant other.  But many of us sell products and services aka solutions for a living.  Here are some great articles about sales.  They address the issue of what selling means in today's market.  It is undergoing a dramatic change.

This article from Bloomberg Business Week asks what type of salesperson you are?

Inc. magazine has a very insightful one about how we no longer have to just be a consultant but an expert as well.  They also have a good one about sales goals.  The third article from Inc. is about how selling in no longer just a matter of convincing.

Finally, a fantastic blog post from Hubspot is about customer service which via social media is becoming more intertwined with sales and marketing.

What it means to be a salesperson is changing day by day.  Keep up with it so you can stay on top of it.

By Reuben Walker

Blogging Beats Facebook

Blogger - Easy to Use

Here is a fantastic infographic about why business blogging is a more productive use of time and resources than Facebook.

Wordpress - Medium Difficulty,  Maximum Functionality

More Complex, Maximum Control

Points 10, 5, 3, and 2 are the most important in my opinion especially using your blog as a content hub to connect your website and social media platforms together.  In our industry product blogs are a great resource for sales, designers, and clients when specifying a project.

Blogger, Wordpress, and Drupal are three great blogging platforms with Wordpress becoming the industry standard.  A Wordpress.com site provides ease of use and free hosting while a self-hosted Wordpress.org site gives you more control.  This site is a Blogger blog.  If you want absolute control and are very design savvy Drupal can let you get any look you want.

Blogging is a great way to position you as an expert whose advice and recommendations can be trusted.  For more information about blogging please contact us.