I arrived back here Sunday and with such a whirlwind of things to do at the beginning of the week I wasn’t able to get my Top 10 CES Picks out until this morning. But here it is! This is just a list of my personal favorites, most of which I chose because I see some application with the company. However there are a couple that just look cool so I like them personally. With that, here they are:
Number 1: NetConference
Although I haven’t tested it yet, I like what I have learned so far about NetConference. This company competes with GoToMeeting, Webex and other online webinar/conference tools. Since online sales presentations is our preferred method of making sales presentations, I spent some time talking to the CEO. If the product works as he says it does, it will solve two very big issues for us. First, the biggest problem we have when making online presentations is the fact that the majority of people (thus far) have such weak computer skills that they cannot adequately follow the on-screen directions about how to “join” the meeting. Usually, there is an applet to download and install that allows the attendee to see my desktop screen. But in this case, we’re told there is absolutely no download. We just send them a link, they click, and they’re instantly in the meeting. The attendee can also choose whether they want to get audio through the website or by calling a phone number. The second issue has to do with actually closing the sale over the phone & online. This company has a contract signing procedure almost identical to ours. This means we can keep our contracts on their website and, when the prospect is ready to buy, our trained Account Executive can walk them through the signing process during the phone call! This is a very big advantage over our existing method, which requires the customer to log into their account and complete the process on their own. So this would give us a distinct advantage of having a sales person walk the prospect through closing the sale. There is one additional feature I like very much, and that’s the feature that allows us to easily add users (our Associates) who are also authorized to make presentations through our account. In this fashion “I” can step into the background as CEO (which is where I should be with respect to direct sales) and allow the sales people to do their job without me present. To top it off, I got a full 60-day free trial with NetConference, so you can bet we’re going to be using it a lot during the next couple of months!
Number 2: Dyyno Systems
This was last year’s “hands-down-number-1-pick”. This year it was really a toss-up between #1 and #2. I put Dyyno in the #2 slot this year only because they were #1 last year and I wanted to share that spotlight with NetConference, which I think we’ll be using a lot this year. Dyyno made some great improvements during the past year, and we plan to use them heavily this year with our AMG program. I don’t intend to do very many “live” classes for the Asset Management Group. A far better approach for both the Members and the Company is to simply provide “Video On Demand” (VOD). Dyyno has a great VOD platform and one which we can password protect so that only paid AMG Members can view the content. After all, the knowledge is highly valuable and intended only for those who pay their fees. I plan to record all 9 lessons and post them on Dyyno during the next 30 days. As the lessons are posted, I will make them available to our AMG Members. I do plan on hosting some live online sessions as well, beginning tonight. Dyyno systems will be essentially invisible to the viewer. All they will know is that the lessons are available and can be viewed online at their convenience (i.e. VOD).
Number 3: SleekTM Cell Phone Signal Booster (Wilson Electronics)
I first ran into Wilson Electronics 2 years ago at CES. I really liked their product at that time, but this year I see a major enhancement that earned them the #3 slot on my top 10! This year, they have their all new “SleekTM” Cell Phone Signal Booster, which is essentially the same as the old product but this one is … “sleek” by comparison. The old one that I really liked was a big, heavy, clunky contraption that had to strap onto your cell phone. It worked great, but was ugly and a bit unwieldy. This one is small, light weight and extremely easy to use. Just slip your phone into the cradle and you’re good-to-go! This unit will boost your cell phone signal up to about 20 times the normal range (about 100 miles away from a cell phone tower). This means no more dropped calls or garbled speech. For people like me who are constantly on their cell phone while they drive, this unit will eliminate weak signals and dropped calls in most areas. In fact, it would be hard to find an area in the USA without cell service when using their product! This is definitely on my “must-have-it” list.
Number 4: Silo Ink
Once in awhile I find something that REALLY saves money. During this past year, my favorite color laser printer of all time … BROKE! Fixing it was too expensive so I bought an HP OfficeJet Pro. GREAT printer! But it’s InkJet. It’s a really FAST inkjet printer but …it’s “inkjet.” I hate inkjet. Everyone knows that the printers are essentially free, because the ink is the most expensive fluid of any kind, on EARTH. But now, along comes Silo Ink. What a cool concept! This is the very first real innovation I ever saw with inkjet resupply. The norm is to refill inkjet cartridges. Silo came up with a much better concept. They mount an ink reservoir on the outside of the printer…and refill the RESERVOIR, not the cartridge. The reservoir fills the cartridge. See that picture? Those 4 big ink bottles…the “silos” if you will… are the ink reservoirs that sit outside the printer feeding FIFTEEN TIMES MORE INK to the printer than what the cartridge holds! Bottom line: I pay $102 for the setup you see at the left. But at Costco, a 2-cartridge pack of just one color is $68.00. Wow. That’s an unbelievable savings! Now, instead of 200 or 300 pages printed when I get new ink, I’m getting 4,000 or 5,000 pages. Now THAT’s a difference. I pondered making this my #1 choice, but it came in #3 because I know I’m going to actually use #1 and #2 more than this. But this one was a hot contender for the #1 slot this year!
Number 5: iTwin
I found this on the morning of my last day there at CES. It’s an ingenious little device that uber-simplifies the process of grabbing the files from your home or office PC whenever you’re at a remote computer anywhere in the world. As you can see, these 2 USB thumb drives plug together (hence “iTwin”). When you plug into a USB port on your PC, it brings up a window that looks like Windows Explorer. Just drag & drop all the folders & files which you may need to access remotely to this folder. Then pull the iTwin apart and take the outside USB drive with you. When you’re at the other PC, just plug it in and voila! There are the files and folders you dragged into that window! Just use them as if they were resident on the PC you’re at. Of course, the files aren’t really on the USB drive. But each file & folder links through the Internet back to your own PC. What a great way to transfer big files or have access to “everything” without having to tunnel through GoToMyPC, Remote Desktop or any other remote file access tool. No software to install, nothing to learn. Brilliantly simple.
Number 6: ClickFree
I loved this tool so much the first time I saw it at CES that I bought 3 of them on the spot! That was 2 years ago. The improvements they made landed them back in my Top 10 for this year! This is by far the best backup tool I know about. This year they introduced wireless backup, which is basically the same except that you don’t need to plug it into the USB slot in the computer…AND it can be configured to automatically back up all the PC’s in your home automatically and keep them backed up whenever files are added or changed. Once again, simplicity of use is the key here. Just plug the device into a USB slot and you’re done. It’s going to automatically find all the files on your drives, back them up and keep them backed up. That’s it! That little box with the USB cable is the whole thing. The box holds a portable disk drive of 500 GB, 1 Terabyte or 2 Terabytes. This is plenty enough for most home and small business applications. Now I’m going to have to upgrade, because when I first bought the product, it didn’t have a disk. It was just a dongle to which you would attach your OWN portable disk drive.
Number 7: GlobalTel Media
This is one of a very few companies I can imagine us collaborating with. They “white label” and private label their product which means for all intents and purposes, they provide the technology and are willing to make it appear to be our own technology. If we partner with them, it will help us accelerate the pace at which we bring a robust texting platform into our system. They specialize in sending rich media links through text messages. It’s especially useful for smart phones but works on any phone that will send and receive text messages (basically ALL cell phones these days). They also have a platform for sending & receiving text messages from the Internet. I haven’t held direct talks with them yet, so I don’t know if they are competitively priced enough for us to use them profitably. But I expect to find out within the next few mnths.
Number 8: Microboards
There are many companies out there that produce CD/DVD duplicators. I particularly like this company because they have a reasonably priced product, small enough for a desk top and yet with enough capacity to print professional looking DVD’s for distribution to prospects by our sales people. I have had the suggestion from many of our Associates that we produce a DVD that can be used with and/or given to prospects that essentially sells them on working with us. Later this year I would like to take a look at producing something like this (2nd or 3rd quarter). This unit you see pictured here copies and prints the DVD with an inkjet process which can adapt with the SiloInk product above! This would make VERY cheap copies. According to the manufacturer, by far the biggest cost of producing the DVD’s is the cost of the Ink used by their printers. And “we” know how to make that expense 10 to 15 times cheaper!
Number 9: Swift PrePaid
This issue of payment cards has come up countless times over the years and always been rejected because the cost outweighed the benefits. What I mean by “payment cards” is using a VISA or MasterCard to pay Associates instead of issuing checks. There’s a great convenience factor but also it’s a great tool to help with branding GlobalTmailTM. In the past, when I priced this option, it took $10,000 to $25,000 just to set up the program and was enormously expensive to maintain as well. And usually, we had to buy a minimum of 5,000 to 10,000 cards just to get started. This company will let us get started with as few as 1,500 pre-printed cards with our logo, and the load fee is only $2.00 instead of more than twice that much. There are some other fees as well, but this might be a good payment solution especially for our Associates who are making a reasonable income through GlobalTmail. It’s also a great conversation piece for all Associates as they are using their GlobalTmailTM VISA card to make purchases and introduce the company to others.
Number 10: Gulpfish
Of course, there are literally thousands of job posting websites out there. This might be “just one more. But I don’t think so. They appear to be growing rapidly. I was attracted to them because we can use them to locate more top-level sales Associates for the company. The cost is free to both job seekers and employers, so I’ll be posting some ads here and let you know how it goes. They have a nice robust feature for interviews as well.
Well, that’s it for the Top 10. But there are a few others that are worth of special mention. These don’t necessarily have application in the company, I just thought they were really cool. In fact, I’m going to post a video this week showing some of the best stuff … can’t really describe in words, so you just have to see it.
Special Mention Category:
West One Music Products
These are basically ear plugs. But not your ordinary ear plugs! These are custom-fit, AMAZING sounding ear pieces for professional musicians, music lovers and anyone who appreciates really high quality sound. Their demo was extra cool. They rotated several local bands through their booth, all of whom were extra-good, but they all played instruments that could ONLY be heard through their ear pieces. What I heard was truly stunning! And for the first time, I found an “in-ear” hearing device that actually stays put, embeds itself in the ear canal and stays there. One reason I’m putting this in here is that they’re introducing a new product in the next few months that’s designed specifically for cell phone use. That’s something I am very likely to buy just for myself. You may want to check it out too!
HoloAD
OK, I admit, there isn’t a very good “real world” application for us with this product yet. BUT, I have to admit it was drawing a great crowd! This little unit renders a complete 360 degree spinning view of nearly anything you can imagine. It just sort of floats there in the air so you can get a complete view of it. As in so many unique products, they intend to make money with this technology by using it as an advertising medium. I have to admit, it “DOES” draw a crowd!
Entourage Edge
There are so many ebook readers out there that I can’t keep track of them. But this one had a great extra feature. Not only can you read it like a standard book, write realistic hand notes on each page of the book, but you can also cruise the Internet on the right hand side! It’s a great idea 
. This way, as you’re reading something, you can make notes, instantly just highlight a phrase or link and go to the website on the right hand side. It’s kind of an ebook reader combined with Tablet PC (iPad style). Once again, there’s no real place for this in the company…I just LIKE IT.
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