BatchBook Blog
Archive for the “@sbbuzz” Category
Batchbook is now available as part of Palo Alto Software’s new Sales and Marketing Pro offering. Sales and Marketing Pro is a new bundled package of online and offline sales and marketing planning software products that includes all the tools to write a successful marketing plan, as well as the resources to actually implement it.
The software package includes our very own Batchbook CRM, website design tools and hosting from Network Solutions, e-mail marketing from VerticalResponse, a press release distribution account from PRWeb, customer scheduling software from Appointment-plus and professional printing services from Vistaprint. It also includes a copy of best-selling book Duct Tape Marketing from renowned marketing expert John Jantsch.
Sales and Marketing Pro is available now from Amazon.com and will be available shortly in retail outlets such as Office Max, Office Depot, etc. This is an exciting first for Batchbook and a rare opportunity for SaaS product to be included in retail outlets. By bringing the advantages of web-based software services to the big box outlets where small business owners typically go to find their start-up equipment, Palo Alto is giving small business owners both the education and tools they need for a successful sales strategy.
We have known Palo Alto Software for a few years now, ever since founder Tim Berry was a regular contributor and guest speaker on our #SBBuzz twitter chat. They are the masters of good business planning – with their original product Business Plan Pro, a tool we have used here at BatchBlue to help keep the business planning process alive and part of our ongoing quest for greatness.
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Tags: batchbook, small business
Today, live from the action at SXSWi in Austin, we launched the new version of The Small Business Web. This site has grown from a single page put together on the fly at last year’s SXSW, to a full-blown Directory that includes categories, screen shots, pricing info, links to integration information and more.
Helping small businesses navigate and use technology has always been part of BatchBlue’s mission. It’s why we write our “Blue Papers“, it’s why we started the Twitter chat for small business owners #SBBUZZ and it’s the reason we’re now so excited about the new Directory. We think it will be very useful for folks looking for ways to grow and manage their businesses using some of the best tools out there.
Here’s a short video our friends at MailChimp put together to help explain what the Small Business Web is all about:
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Tags: batchblue, mailchimp, small business, small business web, SXSW, SXSWi
Today’s my first day in New York City for the Web 2.0 Expo. Although I’m not officially going to any sessions today, I’ve already met quite a few interesting folks: the lovely (and very stylish!) Daria Shualy from Sense of Fashion and Sharel Omer of KonoLive, who talked with me about whuffie and bloggers and web apps (some of my favorite things!) I had a quick lunch with Kelly Leondard from the Hachette Book Group, who very kindly offered to send me a copy of Six Pixels of Separation, the hot new title from Mitch Joel that everyone is raving about. I can’t wait to read it and will share my thoughts here (I’m overdue for a business book round-up.)
We heard from Pam that she landed safely in London and today is meeting with our friends from MOO cards. She promises to take lots of pictures of her official #sbbuzz bee enjoying the sights in London.
If you’re interested in following along with us, the Twitter hashtag for the general Web 2.0 conference is #w2e (each session has its own tag as well). Pam and I will be posting updates to our own accounts (@pmohara and @mriggen respectively) and we’ll be updating our Flickr stream and this blog as time allows. If you are at either event, please give us a shout! We’d love to meet you in person. That’s what makes going to all these conferences so fun.
Tags: 140 characters, @sbbuzz, conference, web 2.0 expo
One of our goals here at BatchBlue is to solve the age old problem of work/life balance. We are working on it within our own company – a hybrid virtual business with an officeless office space and flexible work schedules. We wrote a Blue Paper describing how we are doing it and write and blog and tweet a great deal about our approach to a work/life balance. Gina Blitstein wrote a wonderful article recently describing our Communications Director Michelle and my different approaches to balancing our professional determination with our family involvement. We are both very ambitious in both areas, so the balance is a constant, but invigorating challenge.
But I learned something new about this struggle last night. I learned the importance of our community in helping us pull this off.
We run a weekly Twitter chat every Tuesday night from 8:00-10:00 PM where we invite small business owners to come chat about everything from social media strategies to recycling efforts. For the past nine months I have logged in each Tuesday as the @sbbuzz bee and moderated an amazing group of motivated business owners as we work together to support each other and learn from each other and collectively build better businesses. But last night I got distracted during #sbbuzz chat. I put a sick child to bed and then spent the evening on the WebMD, CDC, and MyAsthmaCentral sites researching the latest recommendations for my at-risk son. And I missed the chat.
But this story has a happy ending. The #sbbuzz chat happened without me. A group of core members, lead by the brilliant and resourceful @scoblitz decided to spontaneously run the chat themselves. They knew the format and rules of the chat and were able to have a great and helpful discussion without me.
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Global climate change is obviously a big, big issue. So what can we as small businesses do about it? As part of Blog Action Day 2009, BatchBlue turned to our resident experts in all things small business (our customers and our contact network, of course!) to find out what they are doing not only to bring in the green, but also to be green in their business practices.
During Tuesday’s small business Twitter chat #SBBUZZ, we discussed how there are many small steps you can take to help green up your business (and thus help do the big work of saving the planet!)
We were fortunate to be joined on #SBBUZZ last night by green expert, author and professional organizer Candita Clayton, who helped guide the discussion about what small business can do to save energy, reduce waste and fight climate change. Here are some simple, easy-to-implement tips that came out of our discussion:
Recycle: Make it easy to recycle paper, glass and plastic. Set up separate bins where they will be seen and used. If your business doesn’t have a program in place, start one! It’s worth it to be the squeaky wheel on this issue since it’s so important. And many communities have programs in place where you can drop off unwanted computers, printers etc. Keeping these hazardous items out of the landfill will go a long way in helping to halt pollution and resultant climate change.
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Tags: blog action day, green, how-to, mobile web, small business, twitter, virtual office
