Seven Tips for More Productive and Loyal Employees

I used to work for a startup marketing optimization agency here in Nashville, TN named [meta]marketer as an Optimization Specialist (prior to January 2011). My primary role was to manage a team of freelancers who did most of the link building I directed for our search engine optimization (SEO) clients. We paid the freelancers just above minimum wage, and the amount of work fluctuated based on our SEO strategy and client load. Most of the people we hired were just out of college or had jobs in areas not related to our area of work. As a result, and due to the lower level of compensation and repetitive work, I found it challenging to keep freelancers motivated. Most of the workers were millennials--a.k.a. Generation Y. Opinions as to the exact birth dates for this group of individuals varies, but they generally range between the mid-1970s and mid-2000s (quite broad) (source:Wikipedia).

I attended a presentation on this day by Travis Robertson, a small business strategist. His discussion was on Millennials in the Workplace. I found it helpful to hear another person's opinion on how to manage and motivate people in that age range. Often we hear that this generation is lazy, disloyal, and distracted (i.e. A.D.D.). But as Travis points out, they are also considered the most creative and technologically advanced generation. How do you maximize the length and productivity of a millennial?

First, you won't be able to keep them as a long employee. Get that in your head, then turn around to focus on how to make the most of their time with you. Businesses generally love the idea of a long employee. They provide a level of experience that anyone replacing them typically won't have. They are usually more satisfied employees and don't have the same level of maintenance as new, younger employees do. But that world is fast fading. And that's okay. As employers, we have the opportunity to modify our management and expectations. There is a lot of benefit to come from playing to the strengths of this new age group.

I sit right at the cusp between Generation X and Y, but stayed at one of my employers (Thomas Nelson Publishers) for over 9 years. In my point of view, I am quite atypical. Granted, I would have left the company years ago if they had not promoted me regularly, invested in my education (I have an MBA in ebusiness from the University of Pheonix), or not regularly promised me growth in the near future. I eventually left the company (I still passionately believe in the company) due mostly to my desire to broaden my knowledge in another kind of business. Thus, I still came to the same spot many Generation Ys do--needing growth and purpose in a way a company can't provide. I also have many people around me within 10 years of my age, and have watched the millenials' experiences. Their career movement and level of satisfaction typically responds to the balance between how valuable they are and their level of responsibility. Bonuses or compensation rarely had a large effect. Those things were often used as excuses, but it really came down to how much they perceived their own appreciation for their work.

Travis' presentation focused on several suggestions for us managers to help motivate and encourage the younger generation so that they can become effective and valuable to the company. His top three points are:

1. Lead, Don't Manage
2. Motivation Instead of Compensation
3. Overhauling Company Culture

Check out his blog posts, Millennials in the Workplace, for details.

In line with his prodding from this day, the following things I plan to do to motivate my workers and help encourage them to stay as long as they can with us.

1. Give small gifts four times a year (birthday, Christmas, and two random)
2. Provide small compensation growth in connection measured goals (where possible)
3. Reward with growth in responsibilities (i.e. thereby communicating their value to the business)
4. Express "thank you" regularly and encouragement
5. Communicate clear assignment structure and performance grace/forgiveness
6. Provide insight into their career growth and perception, and structure responsibilities that add to their experience
7. Offer interest and a listening ear to their own passions

There are many leadership materials on these subjects. I expect most of us have had them come across our desks or in our education. I could expound more on these by referring to times when I utilized these simple tactics with employees and agencies. It's amazing to me how little money it takes to keep an employee happy and appreciative. Of course, we need to offer raises, but most often these seven actions produce more loyalty than a large raise ever would. Across my career utilizing these actions, I have gained loyal workers, agencies, and employees with very little expense. If you start to incorporate the seven tips, you will find your work environment healthier, employees engaging in better collaboration, and everyone having more patience with one another as we grow and learn. And we all know we need that!

Behavioral Ad Targeting Debate

A recent article by eMarketer spread word on a new study saying people don’t want targeted ads. Earlier studies say differently. How conductors educate the participants within and around questions is just as important as the actual question itself. Context can easily change meaning. Even the order of questions affects respondent perception and subsequent answers. Issues in this conclusion (i.e. data security and customization) need to be approached separately at first and combined down the questionnaire so that customers prioritize their opinion aptly and fears controlled.

My opinion remains unchanged. Customers dislike loosing control of their personal information, yet appreciate customization services. If we communicate our responsibility to protect their information, they will appreciate the benefits we serve and their purchases and activity will speak that message.

As marketers, we must treat customer information tenderly and honorably while using buying behavior and click-throughs to target content. It’s a service first and foremost. But we also benefit from it.


Image source: eMarketer

The Palm Pre, by Sprint

Just got the new Palm Pre, offered by Sprint. I'm usually not an early adopter. That allows other people to work out the bugs for me. But I was ready to be off my Treo 700p and something more iPhone-like.

[Photo taken from CNet's review of the Palm Pre]

I've had it for three days now. Spent a few hours working on getting it up to speed. It's an awesome phone and I'm glad I have it. I certainly recommend it.

Check out Sprint's website for the Palm Pre for a fancy presentation. The phone goes a little slower than the presentation. Sometimes quite slow. But I found based on several videos on YouTube that the phone is faster with most things compared to the iPhone 3G and a few things on the iPhone 3Gs.

My top issues with it are:

1. When typing and wanting to change a word earlier in a sentence or paragraph, it's EXTREMELY hard to put your cursor at the right point. I talked with tech support today and the engineers are aware of this and are thinking through ways to offer a solution in future software updates.


2. Battery life is really short. Definitely not better than the iPhone. Probably worse. I certainly have to charge each day. If I have a couple long conversations, I have to charge even earlier in the day. There are some extended batteries one can buy, however--unlike with the iPhone.


3. BlueTooth goes off if it's not connected to a device. Just talked with tech support on this one as well. Even if you switch it on within the phone, if you don't have something connected to it soon thereafter, it will disengage. Then if a Bluetooth device comes close to it, the device won't recognize the Pre until the Bluetooth application is started.


4. It isn't a problem yet, but plugging in the charging cable will get on my nerves. It has a flap covering the port and it's really hard to get off. They offer a charger that doesn't require you to connect anything to the phone (Touchstone). Cool, yes. Expensive, definitely. However, I found a site out there that offers it for $50.

At this point, I don't really have any other complaints. I've worked with several of their apps. And they do need more, but it's only been out about two months, so I expect more to come. Sprint stores can't keep the phone in stock.

Problems Importing Info from Old Phone.

Contacts and Calendar. I had trouble getting information from my Outlook. It's connected via Microsoft Exchange with my company. The Pre is supposed to have that ability, but it depends on how a company setup their Exchange system. Due to the immediate complexity, I used Google's services for contacts and calendar. I exported my contacts via CSV and imported to my Google account. I then downloaded Google's calendar sync program for Outlook. So, the calendar stays relatively up-to-date, but my contacts will get out of date eventually. I'm still working with my I.T. department on an Exchange solution.

Memos and Word Docs. I have not transferred over my memos (if possible) and my Word documents. The latter shouldn't be hard, but I may have to let go of all my memos. If you have a non-MSExchange version of Outlook, transferring everything to your Pre is really easy for free. They offer a DTA program. But it only transfers the information once. It's not a sync program. You'll have to buy a third party app to continue doing that. However, if you use Google services for calendar, contacts, etc, it stays up-t0-date on the phone pretty effortlessly.

Other than those things, I'm impressed with the phone. As I understand it talking with other iPhone users, moving data to the iPhone wouldn't have been easier. I certainly recommend the phone. It's worth going to a store and playing with it.

Importing Audio Books into Your iPod

Okay, so this isn’t web related, but it’s important enough to put it out there.

Working for a book publisher and owning an iPod and liking audio books means I want audio books on my iPod. Thomas Nelson has many audio book products (fiction, nonfiction, bibles, gift books, Spanish). If I don’t buy audio books off iTunes or Audible, then I have to import them from MP3 CDs or audio CDs. The problem with iTunes is that Apple didn’t really consider the process of importing audio books. Instead, iTunes treats any audio file like a music file unless it has an M4B extension (as of iTunes 7.6 and earlier versions). M4B is Apple’s audio book file format.

What You Really Need to Know: If you change the extension of any AAC file (mp4 or m4a) to M4B and add the files to your iTunes library, it automatically applies its audio book features to the file. There is no special encoding to the file needed.

The rest of these directions offer two different ways to do that, but you may have other options you prefer. One important addition I talk about below is combining CD tracks into one audio book file. It may make some of your audio books easier to use once in iTunes or on an iPod.

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For those of you new to this…

Disadvantages to Non-M4B Files:

1. You can’t put the file into your “Audiobooks” category (keeps it out of your shuffle settings on your computer)
2. You can’t use the bookmark feature, where the playing picks up from where you last left off when listening to the file.

Solutions to Making Audio Clips M4B Files:

1. Convert the audio file to a M4B
2. Change the file extension from AAC to M4B

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Convert MP3 to M4B

Step 1: Import Your CDs as MP3 Files. This is my recommended option. In all my web searching thus far, I’ve only found one converter to do this. Unfortunately, to use the software, your files must be in MP3 format and you must be on a PC. So, if you’re on a PC, you’ll first need to use another program to convert your CDs to MP3s.

In the following steps, they list how to use iTunes for converting your CDs—assuming you want your audio books in iTunes. If you already have the CD in the drive and are planning to use iTunes, hopefully it has already identified the CD and is displaying all the titles and info for each track. If not, don’t enter the information until you import the M4B file later in these steps.

Using iTunes to Convert CDs to MP3 Files. The default audio format iTunes converts to is AAC (i.e. M4A). You’ll need to change the settings to MP3.

1. Under the “Edit” menu, choose “Preferences”.
2. Go to the “Advanced” tab, then in the next level
3. Click the “Importing” tab.
4. From the “Import using” dropdown, choose “MP3”.
5. Next, change your compression setting by selecting “Custom” from the “Setting” dropdown.
6. In the next dialog box, select 36kbps.


1. That’s best for audio books that are comprised mostly of someone simply reading a book.
2. You can go up to 64kbps if you want, but any more than that and you’ll just be taking up space on your hard drive.
3. If the book has a lot of music or sound effects, a 96kbps setting would be better. All the rest of the settings don’t make a big enough difference in my opinion.

Step 2: Combine and Convert the MP3 Files to M4B. Use the Audio Book Converter software suggested by a fellow blogger (reference below). Unfortunately, the converter is only PC friendly. It will combine as many of the MP3 files you want into one file while converting the files to M4B formats. Audio bibles, reference books, or possibly even training books won’t benefit from this as much since you may want to listen to a particular book or chapter. If that’s the case for you, then the next main topic below “Changing the File Extension to M4B” may be a better process for you to follow.

Meander through the Audio Book Converter software after you’ve installed it. Hopefully you can figure it out. If not, comment to this post and I’ll answer your question as soon as possible.

Step 3: Import Your M4B Files Into iTunes. Once you’ve combined and converted your audio books, you’re ready to import them into iTunes. Pay attention to where iTunes (or you) put your MP3 files in the folders on your computer. I suggest they be with the rest of your music files.

The “import” option in iTunes is not the appropriate option to use. Importing sometimes also includes converting, but iTunes will only do one file at a time via that route. Instead, choose to “Add File to Library” under the “File” menu. Select all the files you just finished converting and click “Open”. Since they are M4B files, they’ll go directly into your Audiobooks category without needing to be converted. From there, you just drag the files to your iPod.

Refer to the post from Shivaranjan from Mumbai for more tips—especially keeping the audio books out of your shuffles. Cudos to him. He gave me some key points I posted here—the best being the audio converter.



Changing the File Extension to M4B

This option is best used if you don’t want to combine the audio files into one file or download the software above. It’s also great if you have a lot of AAC tracks to change the file name or extension for—or any file for that matter.

Summary: Remember that iTunes needs audio book files to first be M4B before it will put them in the Audiobooks category. Generally, to get a file into a M4B format, you first make it an AAC format (i.e. MP4 or M4A) and then change the extension to M4B. If you used iTunes to convert the files, remove them from your library. Then, re-add them to it (via “Add to Library”). iTunes will automatically place them into the Audiobooks category at that point.

Step 1: Get the Files Into the AAC Format. I suggest iTunes for this. Before inserting the audio CD, check your import settings. The default in iTunes is AAC. Under the “Edit” menu, choose “Preferences”. Go to the “Advanced” tab, then in the next level, click the “Importing” tab. From the “Import using” dropdown, make sure it says “AAC”. Next change your compression setting by selecting “Custom” from the “Setting” dropdown. In the next dialog box, select 36kbps. That’s best for audio books that are comprised mostly of someone simply reading a book. You can go up to 64kbps if you want, but any more than that and you’ll just be taking up space on your hard drive. If the book has a lot of music or sound effects, a 96kbps setting would be better. All the rest of the settings don’t make a big enough difference in my opinion.

Insert the Audio CD. If iTunes asks to import the CD, go ahead and do that. If your audio book came on more than one CD (which is most common), insert the other CDs and import those as well. They will all be imported into the AAC format. Too bad iTunes didn’t simply include their M4B format from the drop down. It would be so easy to import audio books then.

Entering Track Info. If the title and track info was not automatically entered by iTunes, go ahead and do so at this point. I suggest starting the titles with an abbreviation or the title of the book, then either simply calling them Track 1, 2, etc. or if you know how they are separated, enter that. Leave the album and artist info empty. You can enter it if you want, but it’s not necessary. If you want to, enter the track title info first. Then select all the files at once and change the information so that you do them all in one fell swoop.

Step 2: Change the File Extensions. Download and use the 123Renamer software. I in no way can guarantee or promise you won’t have problems with this program. I merely used it for my purposes and it worked great. It’s not freeware, but it has a 20 day trial. So, if you’re only planning to do a couple audio books or file name changes, then it should work fine for you. But if you buy a lot of audio books, then you may consider buying this or start buying them all via iTunes or Audible. There are several bulk renaming software programs out there. Just search for “file renaming bulk software” via Google or FreeDownloads.com and you’ll get a lot.

123Renamer Software Settings. Once the program is installed, it comes up with two panels. In the small panel named “File Renaming Panel”, on the first tab named “Case/Extension”, in the area named “Extension”, click “New Extension:” and in the dropdown, type “M4B”. Now, in the larger window, go to the folder where iTunes saves the music files. Most likely that’s in you’re “My Music” folder. It probably saved your audio book under “Various Artists” if it didn’t have info entered for it yet. Otherwise, look for the name in the artist field for the tracks, then look for album. You may have changed the way iTunes saved your files, so however you set that, you’ll know what to do. Click on that folder and you’ll see all the M4A files listed on the right. Select them all.


Running 123Renamer. Then, in the small dialog box named “File Renaming Panel”, click either “Apply” or “Preview”. If preview, a new column will display next to the file names in the main window showing what they’ll look like. You’ll have to widen that column out at the top, but if they look right, click “Apply”. And all the file names will be changed.

Step 3: Deleting Old AAC Audio Book Files. Now, go back to iTunes. And, you’re going to hate me with this next part. Delete all the audio book files you just imported. That’s right. Delete them all. But in the box that pops up “Keep Files”. DON’T move them to the Recycle Bin. The files no longer exist since you changed the extensions, but iTunes won’t know that.

Step 4: Importing New M4B Files. Now, add the M4B files to iTunes by going to your “File” menu, choosing “Add File to Library” and going back to the folder where your audio book files are. Select them all and click “Open”. They should all be added to your Audiobook category with the title and track info already present. From there you can just drag them to your iPod folder.

For more tips, refer to the post from Shivaranjan from Mumbai—especially keeping the audio books out of your shuffles.

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I hope this helps those of you who may have had challenges like most of us here. If you have any advice to offer, please offer it here. There are many people with these same concerns. Thank you.