Posts Tagged ‘social media’
It’s Better Read Than Said
It’s Better Read than Said
How many of you like pulling VM from friends or colleagues on your smart phones, home phones or work phones these days?
That many.
I thought so.
So cumbersome, this voice thing: So much time wasted listening to the slog of a human voice blathering dozens of extra words around the likely simple intent of the message added to the process of accessing, listening and remembering what was said ( or worse –lunging for a post it note to scribble it on).
It’s getting harder and harder to find the time out there to listen to the human voice share information.
Why? Because it’s getting so much easier, faster and efficient to read it. And type it. And text it. And Like it. And Follow it. And also to Learn and Share and Refer and Recommend.
We are information hogs, all of us now. We can’t get enough. We want information in huge amounts, And we want it in a way we can save it, retrieve it and share it. We want so much so fast, that it becomes easier to accept the inefficiency of the human voice and not want to use it or as we more increasingly feel, hear it.
You need to understand the change here on a couple of levels.
You as a person and an employee should know:
- When you do talk or leave a voicemail, it better be good and meaningful and compellingly vital because if it’s not- it should have just been an email or post and eyes will roll.
- Human nature yearns for the sharing of “one to many”. Everything you might have wanted to say to some one you can say to hundreds or thousands at the same time but without the fear of Public speaking. That is outrageously attractive to people. And that’s a powerful thing for your self and your career if you embrace it well.
You as a business owner should know:
- This is Word of Mouth now. This is where your clients rave or rage about you. You must make it easy for your customers to pass along good things about you and your business. One to one still works but people would much rather “tell 10 friends” except this time they can do it for real in seconds.
- You have to be smarter and cooler and more valuable than your website. If talking with you takes 5 times longer than what the prospect could have gotten in 3 clicks on your website then you are not adding value where you should. Think hard about what your voice brings to your business. Think brand. Think feel. Think purpose. Then plan and speak accordingly.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
If You’re Confused, What The Heck Do You Think Your Prospect Is?
If You’re Confused, What The Heck Do You Think Your Prospect Is?
I spend a lot of time looking at, and experiencing training these days. And sometimes it’s clear that the things we train our own employees, like some of the products and services we sell, can be …well …..confusing. Not every service or product as everyone well knows, is tangible or simple. Some, like financial products or online marketing products can feel particularly abstract and complex.
And if it’s confusing to my Trainers when they first start to learn the products and then later for the Sales and Service people who then have to present in front of customers, do ya think it might be that much more confusing for prospects and clients when they are first are approached or exposed to these things?
And if you’ve ever read anything in this blog before, you already know that confusion kills sales.
Here are 3 ways to alleviate that confusion when you represent a complex product or service:
- Teach your Sales people to teach. Get past the idea that sales of complex or non tangible products / services begins with the pitch. It doesn’t. It begins with the teach. It’s OK to build teaching into your sales cycle despite the fear of lengthening the sales cycles. You aren’t lengthening the sales cycle – you are starting earlier – you have to. It’s OK to get all your sales people to a level where they become experts with online webinars under their belts, with killer LinkedIn pages and Twitter followers who look to them for as much insight as they do for what’s on sale.
- 3′s: Everything in 3′s: The mind is not wired to remember more than 5 numbers, let alone 5 points. If you have a service for example that manages your online marketing spend then even if it has 12 steps to get started, it should sound like “…Only 3 key steps to getting you started. In the first step we’ll interview you around 3 important areas like……. Then after that, we get to tackling 3 areas of your current website like…..” You get it. “3″ sounds simple. Simple eases tension and sales can keep on moving.
- Analogies: Nothing simplifies better. Are you a marketing consultant? Nope, you’re a marketing GPS that gets the business to the destination of 25% more customers. Are you a website developer? Nope; you are building an automated employee that works 24 hours a day taking orders and that never sleeps. Think hard about what you sell or service and find that perfect analogy that makes it click and stick.
This blog is not complex but I kept it to 3 points. More than that and it gets confusing who the heck wants to read that?
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
No Fear in 2013
No Fear in 2013
This is the year to quit being afraid. Let’s start with these 7.
- Don’t fear having to memorize all your product specs and prices. What matters is you remember how the darn thing helps them do what they really want to do.
- Don’t fear social media. Embrace it. More people, customers and employees talking to each other is way better than silence.
- Don’t fear the so called demise of the offline marketing world. I don’t know any business that is moving totally away from it. Blend is always the key. In fact, that integrated offline/online mix might get a little more attention than it used to these days.
- Don’t fear the board game. It’s OK to make eye contact with your kids now and then.
- Don’t Fear the Reaper. Classic tune. Have a Listen. I heard they played at my High School way back in the early 70’s. Yup they did.
- Don’t fear going back to school. In fact, everybody should be in school. If you are not dedicating to learning something new at least an hour a day at least (and I don’t mean watching or reading “news”, timelines or posts) you are behind your competitors tomorrow.
- Don’t fear Neuroscience and Neuromarketing. Get into it. How you think, why you think the way you do. Why your clients and team react to things the way they do is important to know . As someone once said… “Just because it is your brain, doesn’t mean you know what it is doing”.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Scroll-Worthy
Scroll-Worthy
I have a friend I won’t name (but his first name rhymes with “Sperry”), who said something to me recently that I just can’t shake. He has a disturbing and ominous opinion about reading things like blogs, articles or pretty much anything online.
“If I have to even scroll down a tiny bit to get to the end, I usually won’t do it. I have other things to do.”
Is this what we’ve come to? Is this Scroll thing (or lack thereof) the new thumbs up or down about the value of content? Is scrolling just too cumbersome and hard now? How awful is that?
“How did everyone like your email?” you are asked, “Um gee, nobody scrolled so I guess not well.”
It takes almost no effort “scroll” but now it must be earned? Is being “Scroll-Worthy” now a badge of honor?
What else does this mean?
- That being on the first page of Google results is great – but you better be above the “scroll”???
- That you’d better be more thoughtful about how large the picture at the top of your blog post is because you may not get a single swipe??
- That you need to march out there and protest the smaller IPAD mini and the death of PC’s and large monitors because your content needs more time to be seen and deemed Scroll Worthy?
- That Eye tracking glasses are next for all and forget the scroll issue – just looking down and left to right will need be earned?
Hey “Sperry”, your view on what you’ll read online scares me man, but with this post at just 299 words, I’m praying it stays above that scroll line so you can get to the end without having to judge me Scroll – Worthy or not.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
If You Knew, You’d Act Differently
Let’s start this post with Jeopardy like feel except that the answer to the following 6 questions is the same:
What is, “You bet I would!”
- If you knew small business prospects are 3 times more likely to act when you give dollar discounts versus percentage (%) discounts, would you handle your offers or pitches differently?
- If you knew most small business prospects had already looked at your website before they called you inquiring about pricing, would you handle the call differently?
- If you knew most small business prospects initially dislike being interrupted over the phone by sales reps, would you handle your call opening differently?
- If you knew most small businesses think you are more credible if you give specific details (like “we are launching a 3 part welcome program to all new customers..”) vs. sharing a customer testimonial, then would you speak or market differently?
- If you knew that 3 out 4 small business prospects in Manufacturing, Construction and Healthcare have their interest piqued when you share information specific to their industry ( vs. say just 1 out of 4 Retail prospects care about information specific to their industry), would you plan your contacts, visits and marketing with these types of verticals differently?
- If you knew that most small businesses don’t yet realize social media is the new and most sacred “Word of Mouth”, would you talk about, advise, encourage and role model social media differently?
The above are true and just a smattering of real data about real small businesses I culled from the research done by firms like the Enterprise Council on Small Business (ECSB) and other reputable research orgs.
Now you know. Go forward differently.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Show Rooming Is Our Fault
Show Rooming Is Our Fault
Target got all a tither last week firing off letters to their suppliers demanding they either reduce their costs or focus on giving Target more unique and exclusive products to sell in their stores.
Problem is that folks go to Target, look at a product, touch it, hold it, feel it, ask questions about it and then turn around and go online and buy the same thing cheaper from some online company that doesn’t have the costs to bear for the brick and mortar, the labor and all the rest.
They call it Show Rooming and brick and mortar retailers like Target are getting sick of it.
But Target is mad at the wrong people. It’s not the supplier that’s the problem – it’s us.
Maybe it was the way I was brought up or where I’ve worked but there’s something wrong about using one company to learn and see everything about a product and then going out and buying it online ( or anywhere else for that matter.) And it happens a lot.
There’s something wrong with walking into the local hardware store, getting that advice on which paint to use to cover paneling, spending some time at the color wheel and then saying “Thanks man!” while jumping in the car to speed off to the superstore to get the exact same paint a little cheaper.
There’s something wrong when the Veterinarian examines your dog, hands you the product she needs to stay healthy and you put it down sheepishly saying “gee I can’t get that right now” only to go on line, look for the same product and order it there for 3 bucks cheaper.
There’s something wrong with going to a car dealer, working the sales rep for 2 days, getting all the answers, taking that test drive and getting all of it down on paper to then neatly fold it, slip it into your back pocket and then shopping around with all this new knowledge to get better price from some other dealer who sells the same model car.
And it happens to you too.
It’s not real different in sales either when you spend 3 weeks educating a prospect about a solution, prepare a proposal and that prospect takes your proposal and their new education, then turns it over to a competitor and says “Beat that”. That happens, that’s life but that’s Show Rooming a Sales Rep and that ain’t right.
It’s a lot like stealing I think. For too many people it’s not a problem to take insight, or time, or commitment, or ideas only to use them against the very people and places that were so skilled or gracious in giving them to you in the first place by going somewhere else to buy.
That’s called Show Rooming and nope, even though its rampant and even a source of pride for some, I don’t like it one bit.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
What I Learned Acting In Star Trek
What I Learned Acting In Star Trek
This last weekend we again watched the recent J.J. Abrams Star Trek film from a couple years back. Awesome movie.
I thought back to when I was an actor in Star Trek from the original series. Working with the other actors on set was life changing for me.
But let’s talk about this latest movie version of the series for a minute. It is a look back to the beginning of Star Trek – a “prequel” view at how the original characters, (i.e. the likes of Shatner, Nimoy and Deforest Kelly) all started out; how they formed their relationships and beliefs. About why and how they go about “boldly going” so to speak.
It made me think about my original days involved in Star Trek and what influence it had and has on my life today. My experience acting in Star Trek was huge. Those days on the “Trek” set shaped some very important things about me and how I act today.
Maybe you could learn from it too.
Star Trek wasn’t much of a hit when it originally aired late in the 60’s, but in syndication all through the 1970’s, it rocked.
I have 3 brothers and we were all growing up in the 70’s.
William Shatner and his crew had nothing on us; truth was, we were Star Trek.
I was Capt James T. Kirk. My first officer Spock (played by my older, sci-fi book loving, overtly logical brother Kevin), was incessantly harangued by Dr. “Bones” McCoy played by Brother Paul. Paul and Kevin kind of had that relationship off set at times, so it was a good fit. My littlest brother James played the role that offers the focal lesson for today.
James always played (he had no choice) …… “The Guard ….Who Went Bad”
You gotta have a bad guy sometimes. It makes it more fun. It gives you a purpose. It gives you a “mission”; a mission to succeed, to win and sometimes, to save the world.
Baby brother James had a rough time of it when you think about it. He always started out as part of the “crew” (which he liked) but only for a while (which he didn’t). His role, being about 7 years old, was always to guard the ship and crew as he slowly moved from room to room. (One bedroom was the “Bridge”, the other was “SickBay” and the rest of the little house was whatever dangerous planet we beamed down to).
Suddenly James (aka “The Guard…Who Went Bad”) was forced to “snap” and turn on the crew, putting our mission at risk. Racing through the house we would chase James, tackle him, and even though we had only set our phasers to “stun”, we somehow always killed him – his body blown to bits all over the living room ( somehow that was better than the “disappearing thing” that happened with the phasers on TV.) Good Times.
Gotta have a bad guy sometimes. That sticks with me. I have to have a purpose occasionally, to defeat something. My guess is you might too.
Maybe you work hard everyday to beat down this Guard Gone Bad sketchy economy thing. Maybe you strategize, work weekends and nights to knock this thing out and grow the business despite what seems like an incredibly hard mission.
Maybe you work up a sweat by3 o’clock pounding out calls and working hard to have conversations with your customers because you are fighting this Guard Gone Bad enemy that is someone’s false perception that you “can’t” do something. Take that Guard Gone Bad; don’t tell me I can’t do something.
Maybe the Guard Gone Bad for you is the competition. You won’t let “these other guys” take your market share, take your sales or take your future away from you. Nope; skip the phaser, give me the photon torpedo.
Maybe the Guard Gone Bad for you is a demon you are battling inside yourself. And it would be so easy to give up and check into Sick Bay but ain’t no way that is going to happen.
So maybe ( no assuredly), there is something good to be said about finding a foil, about finding that enemy to defeat and about creating and/or finding that Guard Gone Bad.
Thanks to my cast mates in the original series produced in Norwood, MA in late 70’s and especially to James. Sorry you got killed so many times bro, but at least it wasn’t in vain.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
5 Things You Will Soon Lose (But It’s OK)
Your Resume: What you think of and how good you are about getting or keeping customers (the only thing any employer truly should care about) will soon best embodied by your blazing trail on the web via your blogs, slideshares, tweets, posts and commentary by businesses and customers you’ve influenced ( or not). Your web fingerprint is a lot more credible than that single pager of spin we’ve grown to love.
Your Thirst For Big Numbers. You’ll soon despise having 500+contacts in LinkedIn or 10,000 followers on Twitter. Instead you’ll yearn for being part of as many smaller networks you can. It’s a bit sad, but we are embracing ever more tightly, the belief that “the bigger the network is the lower the trust of those within it.” Tough business this world of trust is.
Your Memory: Well, at least the loose data stuff. With the Googlization of the world and how it changes how we use our brains (it’s a fact by the way) to find out about stuff, you’ll need just a swipe or a couple of spoken syllables into your (insert wicked smart battery powered thingy here) to get that memory jogged. Good news it that neuroscience studies show it leaves more focus for the brain to work on more important stuff.
Your Social Skills: Tragic but we’ll soon be hard pressed to remember how to make eye contact, know which hand to lead with to shake hands and remember that unlike IM, you have to wait for someone to stop talking before sharing your thought. Forget “Virtual Meeting”, “Flesh Meeting” will become two dirtier words. Happily, when we realize what we’ve lost we’ll get a fresh start on new and improved social skills.
Your Boundaries: It will happen. Meeting at10 am. Meeting at2:30 pm. Go home at4pm. Play with kids. Nice dinner at6pm. Watch reruns of 3 and a ½ men (Sheen came back from the dead- it was of course, just a dream). Meeting at9pm with New Zealand staff. Sleep. Meeting at8am in UK client. Meeting at10 am. Rinse and Repeat. Global is big. Global is different. But global is money.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Royal Numbers
2 billion people watched the Royal wedding Friday. The most to watch any single event. Ever.
Why?
It’s all about storytelling. And thus having one of the strongest brands in the world. Bigger than Apple, bigger than Coke, bigger than Facebook.
1,000 years of Royal stories. 1,000 years of Royal intrigue, power, love and loss. Stories get told. Stories stick. Stories attract.
It’s not a stretch to steal that lesson from Friday for what you do. If you want people to watch you in droves and stick around for a while, start with one hell of a story.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
****
Mondays are busy. All Monday posts are 100 words or less.
