Picasa Web Albums - Amitai Givertz

"Connie, please don't apologize. I am cranky, celebrating it actually.

In reply to yours...

>The virtuoso problem: I think that the vast majority of bloggers in our space are well intentioned and add value somewhere in the mix. It's hard to measure. I'm not even sure there would be any point unless you felt the need to keep the score in lieu of banking commission checks. That said, I don't think anyone needs to apologize for leveraging any medium that they feel gives them the exposure they need, for whatever the reason.

Also, I think the "virtuoso problem" is only a problem for the second violin and cymbal player. It may appear that relatively few dominate the "conversation" but that is not unique to our industry or social networks, nor for bloggers. I remember sharing your sentiment as a rookie salesperson wondering why everyone loved Charlie and not me. I subsequently learned virtuosos are only as good as their last performance.

As to the audience, there are those who preach to the pews and those get out and do mission work. Either way, there is no guarantee that anyone will be persuaded to their point of view, or adopt their "best practice." I'm sure a lot of bloggers, while advancing their personal agenda, feel that connecting with just one or two people in some meaningful way justifies the effort. For sure, if one is not blogging for self-indulgence alone, to not have a clear purpose--implying you know who the audience is--is, well, self-indulgent. Nothing more or less.

>So what has point made this group so inbred? I think it has something to do with not getting out much.

>Or the marketing advice given to bloggers in general? The problem with "marketing advice" is that the best advice often requires more time and effort than the average person has patience for. The pay-off isn't worth it. Maybe its because a few inbred virtuosos get all the accolades or because the trips to the bank are too few and far between. I find the same to be the case with sales and recruiter training too. Hardly surprising when you think about it.

Of course, bad advice is hard to spot until one has suffered the consequences of following it, or someone else has some even worse advice that is packaged more attractively.

>I would like to have more corporate recruiting clients: Me too. Please email me the contact information of all the prospects you have given up on with a brief explanation as to why they didn't buy from you. I'll let you know if I land one. Send you chocs if I land two.

In the meantime, I have come to believe that for sole practitioners no amount of blogging, commenting, tweeting, personal branding, self-promotion or social validation substitutes for the type of relationship building, trustworthiness and give-and-take that is either: a) carefully/socially engineered; and/or b) developed organically over time. That is not to suggest that those things-~~blogging, etc,-~~ don't have a place. Again, it all takes time and effort, more than "busy" people can give, even at the expense of their success.

>Blogging or an email newsletter may be a way to give them information about me and my abilities and knowledge that would convince them that I could help them: Without wanting to sound harsh--or cranky for that matter--trying to convince people with a medium that is at best lost in the mix, and more likely rejected as an intrusion or irrelevant, is counterproductive to your efforts and brand.

Rather than persuading our audience to see things the way we see them we should identify high value, high probability targets who have a recognizable problem that we are best qualified to fix. Alternatively, find people who don't have a problem but will pay you upfront for finding one for them.

In closing, for what's it's worth, the phone remains the most potent social tool in my arsenal.

Hope this helps. If not, chalk it up to "cranky.""