A Startup Toolkit reader wrote asking “Should I buy the email list of a local business in my industry that’s going out of business?” My initial gut feeling was “No,” as they didn’t generate the list, and it’s not a good idea to “drop in unannounced.”

I like to bounce these things off people in the industry first, so I contacted Keith Moore, Chief Marketing Officer at iContact. Keith agreed, “If you want to utilize a list, have the owner handle sending a mailing on your behalf. You don’t have the trust and understanding of another firm’s customer.” So, my reader could work with the list owner to create an agreed-upon note that would introduce the competing service, and invite the current customers to join in.

Keith and I discussed the best practices involved. “Have the invitation go to a page on the company site where you can invite them to your list.” It has to be a normal, opt-in form. “Good mailing list management means always being clear and upfront with your customers. Don’t abuse the right to email them, and you’re more likely to keep them as happy customers.”

The other question the reader had was “How much do I pay for the list?”

My suggestion was “Pay for success.” In other words, if the list has 5,000 people on it, don’t pay for all of them. Let the going-out-of-business company send a mailing or two. Most email list software can let you segment your responses into a new list. Count the customers that are still with you in a month or two, and pay for those that are now your customers. Now you’ve gotten some valuable, opt-in customers, and you can give back some consideration to the person who provided the leads. Base the compensation around what your current cost of email acquisitions are. If you don’t know that number, think about a cost to get people to sign up at an event or trade show in your industry. Make sure the person with the list is comfortable with your calculation and your proposal. And good luck.

What’s your email acquisition strategy? Let us know.

(Inc.Com)

Houses with low energy efficiency will lose value under government plans to intervene in the property market to help cut greenhouse gas emissions from homes by a third by 2020.

Estate agents will be given guidance telling them to take more notice of energy efficiency when deciding the value of homes. Ministers believe that homeowners are more likely to pay for efficiency measures such as solar panels and insulation if their investment clearly increases the property’s value.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change said in a strategy document that it had asked the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors for recommendations to ensure that a home’s energy performance was “better reflected” in its value. Council tax rebates of more than £100 a year will be offered to homeowners who improve insulation. Landlords will be barred from letting poorly insulated properties and will have to upgrade them to a minimum standard of energy efficiency.

Councils will be able to require energy companies to work with them to insulate social housing. Banks and shops will be encouraged to offer loans of £10,000 per home to householders who install solar panels, heat pumps and insulation. The repayments will be covered by savings in energy bills.

RELATED LINKS
Conservatives propose energy-efficiency loans
UK homes to have smart energy meters by 2020
Legislation will allow the loans to be linked to the home rather than the owner, meaning that when the home is sold the new owner will inherit the debt. The National Association of Estate Agents said that such debts could make business more difficult.

John Healey, the Housing Minister, said that action was needed to reduce energy wastage in privately rented homes, which tended to be older and in poorer condition than owner-occupied homes. It is proposed to make the installation of loft and cavity wall insulation a condition of renting out a property.

by Ben Webster, Times Online

Harvard Business Review-Have you changed your behavior as a result of the "great recession?" According to a survey from the Department of Labor and a New York Times/CBS News poll, Americans are spending less time shopping and more time engaging in simple, low-cost activities with family and friends.

These include "organizational, civic and religious" pursuits; home-based hobbies like gardening and cooking; family sports such as hiking; and cultural endeavors like going to museums and movies. For many people this may be an obvious result of having less money to spend. But the dramatic climb in the savings rate (from less than 1 percent of income at the end of 2007 to more than 4 percent through most of 2009) suggests that even those with extra money are acting differently.

From an economic point of view, these shifts are generally good news. Americans seem to have learned (at least for now) that highly-leveraged spending sprees are not sustainable and have painful consequences. This may help dampen future speculative bubbles and provide a basis for reducing debt over time.

The real questions, however, are whether these behavioral shifts signal new patterns for American society and how these shifts might trigger changes in organizations. For example, many companies depend on large cadres of workaholic professionals and middle managers who put in long hours, are available around the clock, and are willing to sacrifice family and personal time for business activities.

Furthermore, managers in most U.S.-based organizations take either less vacation time, or less consecutive time off than their counterparts in Europe and elsewhere. But now that these managers have experienced the psychic satisfaction of less work and more personal time — even if it was forced by recessionary cutbacks and less available cash — will they be willing to return to the intense treadmill?

A Boston Consulting Group experiment, reported in Harvard Business Review in October 2009, suggests that it may be beneficial not only for managers and professionals to spend more time away from work, but also for the organization. In this study, BCG required its most intensely workaholic team members to take pre-scheduled, regular (one day per week) and complete (no phone calls or emails) time off during the course of a project. Not surprisingly, after some personal adjustments, the consultants enjoyed the time off. However, BCG also found that the project teams improved their communications and developed more innovative and efficient ways of working with each other.

Similarly, a series of pilots on flexible work arrangements sponsored by a non-profit group called the BOLD Initiative found that when teams were given the freedom to arrange work schedules around their personal needs and desires, it not only increased employee satisfaction but also improved team productivity.

Obviously there is no definitive answer as to whether the personal shifts sparked by the recession will be permanent. It may be in the best interest of companies however to encourage these changes in behavior with managers, professionals, and other high-pressured work groups. Who knows, for many of us, less work may not only be more satisfying, but also more productive.

Ron Ashkenas is a managing partner of Robert H. Schaffer & Associates a Stamford, Connecticut consulting firm and the author of Simply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done

Harvard Business Review-If you are finding your job a little boring, you aren't alone. There are many who feel trapped in their current jobs since the economy has removed a few of the seats in the corporate game of musical chairs. But I challenge you to see that it's actually you, not the job, that's boring. First, see if you recognize any of these hard truths:

1. You're on autopilot.
When bored, our brains shift into autopilot. This isn't a good thing for you or your company. Unfortunately, shifting into autopilot is what our brains do best. Our past experiences create the neural pathways upon which our survival depends. The brain interprets current reality and responds to similar situations using behaviors that have served us well in the past. These shortcuts help us save time, but can also sap our interest.

2. Your energy level is less than impressive.
When we are bored, our energy level dissipates and we lose the focus and purpose so necessary to excel at the job at hand. Our brains no longer work for us and actually start working against us.

3. You've become a conformist.
It's not unusual for leaders to start sleeping on the job once they hit year three or four. At this point, they have molded the organization in their own image. They know their people, processes, and technology aren't perfect, but have adjusted to their imperfections and lose sight of the opportunities for improvement. Every day brings the same set of problems and the same responses. From a performance perspective, the sharp "blacks" and "whites" so obvious on Day 1 become indistinguishable shades of gray. "I can't believe what's going on here!" slowly but surely becomes "I can't believe how tired I am!"



So what's the solution?

Wake yourself up by renewing your leadership agenda. Re-engage by mentally firing yourself and spending the next few weeks acting as if you just joined the company. This entails assessing the current situation anew with the help of key stakeholders. Make it a disciplined process.

This isn't as easy as it sounds. Although you are bored, you are also extremely busy. Your only choice is to extract yourself from day-to-day operations while you redefine your organization's future. It's time to delegate or defer and make sure that the "First 90 Days" activities take priority in your calendar. Activities such as clarifying strengths and opportunities, confirming the mandate for change, and determining how to better allocate existing resources.

This approach is uncomfortable and definitely not boring. Take heart that your organization can operate just fine (for a while) without you and it's far better to fire yourself mentally today rather than wait for your organization to do so — for real.

By PHYLLIS KORKKI
Published: December 31, 2009

NYTIMES-With companies sometimes receiving hundreds of applications for a single job, it is becoming more common for hiring managers to conduct initial screening interviews over the phone. This saves them considerable time and money — especially if a candidate lives out of town.

Don’t take these interviews lightly. “It is important to prepare for a telephone interview just as you would for a regular interview,” said Alison Doyle, a job search specialist for About.com, which is owned by The New York Times Company.

The employer will normally call or e-mail you in advance to set up an interview time. If possible, arrange for the interview to be over a landline phone, as it tends to be more reliable than a cellphone. Make sure that children, pets and other sources of interruption will be out of the room. Keep a glass of water nearby.

Phone interviews can often last a half-hour to an hour, Ms. Doyle said; be sure to have your résumé in front of you, along with a list of your accomplishments. Long pauses or halting responses caused by a lack of preparation could keep you from making it to the next stage. Do your best to be personable, but don’t overdo it by, say, trying to tell a joke and guffawing.

One advantage of a phone interview is that you don’t need to worry about what to wear (although dressing up might make you feel more confident). But some companies have started to conduct video interviews, Ms. Doyle said, sending Webcams to be used temporarily by applicants who don’t have them at home.

New York Times - For all the hand-wringing about the weaknesses of health care, one aspect of it has remained strong: its ability to provide jobs. In fact, health care employment has increased during the recession, while employment as a whole has declined, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Within the private sector, more than 11 percent of the American work force is engaged in health care work, compared with just 3 percent before 1960, the bureau says.

Regardless of how health care reform shakes out, the industry jobs picture is likely to remain robust, given the aging population and technological advances in medicine.

High school and college students take note: the positions expected to post some of the largest increases include registered nurses; personal and home care aides; home health aides; nursing aides, orderlies and attendants; medical assistants; licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses; pharmacy technicians; and physicians and surgeons.

Jane Donaldson spent £200,000 doing up her bungalow but like many vendors can’t find a buyer