The developments here in Sweden in relation to the tsunami disaster tells us a lot about the importance of a human voice.

As a marketing consultant in London, I get a lot of blank, glazed looks when I talk about blogs, blogging, the blogosphere or even the much more respectable sounding Citizen’s Media or the 5th estate. So I’ve written the article below to try and give (business) people a flavour of what’s on offer.

AOL has launched the consumer version of its AIM Voice Conferencing service (AVC) along with a special holiday offer of 500 free AVC minutes for each new AVC user.

Yahoo Personals’ National Singles Week Survey Reveals 94 Percent of Singles Want a Date That Can Make Them Laugh; Yahoo Launches New Dating Tools within Yahoo! Messenger and Yahoo Personals.

Kineto Wireless announced the company, along with thirteen other leading service providers, infrastructure suppliers and handset manufacturers in the wireless industry, have published a set of open specifications for extending mobile voice and data services over Wireless LANs.

Full Featured Media Center PC Offers E-Mail Access, PC-to-PC Audio and Video, PC-to-Phone Calling and Instant Messaging.

Cisco is Now Number-4 Voice Vendor Worldwide; Only Vendor to Realize Revenue Market Share Gains Calendar Q2 2004, According to Synergy Research.

Industry Innovation and Facilities-Based Competition Can Turn the VoIP Revolution into Reality.

Get ready for the Google Search Engine Watch. This will give users access to Google search from their wrists.

Speech Search, available in pre-beta stages at Google Labs, is an attempt to give users the ability to search Google through a voice interface. Speech Search gives users who are not at a computer the ability to search for driving directions, restaurant information, and even the aisle location of an item in your local supermarket.

One of the most frequent questions I am asked when speaking at conferences goes something like this…

Even if you never place a cold call, you still have to reach people by phone. That customer who was so interested last month never called you back, and now you must call her. You call once, twice, three times, but you can’t get her in person. How can you manage to close a sale if all you ever get is voice mail?

With millions of web sites out there, how can you make yours stand out? Many experts suggest putting a picture of yourself on your home page to add warmth and create a feeling of trust. They suggest visitors feel more comfortable knowing there’s a real person behind the otherwise anonymous web site. And while this is probably true, I still haven’t added my picture to my site. I’ve just never liked pictures of myself that much. (Note to self: Get over it!)

Have you ever wondered what it would take to quickly get your own voice file onto your website?

Reaching a prospect is no easy feat. One salesperson experienced a voice mail obstacle that was more daunting for him than most.

Here is the voice mail message: “If you are calling to sell me X, don’t hold your breath for a return call.”

Linda Richardson is the founder and president of Richardson, a premier provider of sales training and consulting to the Global 500. Linda is a thought leader in the sales training industry and is credited with the movement to consultative sales selling. Linda began her career in the sales training industry in 1979 as a manager sales training for a regional bank. She consults on enterprise sales solutions and sales force effectiveness in all areas of sales and management.

Have you ever thought of something and felt like a fool for not having thought of it earlier? If so, then you know what I felt like one day not so far in the past.

For some people “voice mail” means the voice mail menu system—or “voice mail jail.” You know, when you dial the business number and a voice—not a person—answers and says, “Hello, you have reached XYZ Company. Please listen carefully to the following options.” At this point, you grit your teeth and prepare for an ordeal.

After listening to all the choices, you discover that none of them suits your needs. Several different can reactions occur. You might feel stupid that you can’t figure out what number to press. Or you might get annoyed that you have to go through the list again, wasting precious time and money.