coaching

A Fool With a Tool is Still a Fool

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A fool with a tool is still a fool.

 

Me using a Weed Whacker?  Nah, I can handle that.   Me after logging into my website control panel or trying to build a half decent Facebook Business page?   Yep, that’s me as a fool.

 

Last week one of our customers said, “I so cherished the time with my marketing advisor because heck, a fool with a tool is still a fool”.   Everyone in the room nodded a collective head in agreement. 

 

It was beautiful.  

 

And timely.  Because right now is when to amp things up in small business that people cherish given the sketchy economy the confusingmarketing world we live in. 

 

Small Business success is a lot of things and successful Marketing is a big piece of it.   But successfulmarketing, (no matter how much we want it to be), is not a commodity, or a widget or something that spits out of an assembly line.  

 

Successful Small Businessmarketing is not just about using 3 random “tools” like Groupon, Emailmarketing and Pay Per Click plus 4 platforms, 5 posts, a bucket of content and a prayer.  Those are, without superb advice and counsel, just shiny and trendymarketing tools fluttering about meaninglessly unconnected and ineffective.

 

Here is the truth; successfulmarketing is a science.   It has a formula, a cadence, a structure and a path. 

 

And it needs to be learned.   And it needs to be taught.  And it needs to be studied.  And in this ever changingmarketing space, it needs to be continuously learned, taught and studied. 

 

And it’s not just onlinemarketing that needs the learnin’.   How to use demographic data to determine mailing lists, how to network in local business groups or how to use QR codes on your business cards or better,  how to connect online and offlinemarketing really well is not all that crystal clear for many small businesses either.

 

So if you are a small business owner or someone who helps them, quit obsessing with the marketing “tools” and realize that the lead story is the insight you need to use them. 

 

We fall into this trap in many parts of our working lives.  It’s easy but foolhardy to just see the “Whats” and grab on to those tools be they online or offlinemarketing wizardry or even sales tools like CRMs and online Demos.   It’s harder yet smarter to see, get or teach to the “How” of using these tools well. 

 

Insight, in the eyes of those who need it most it seems, is the most cherished tool of all.

 

 

 

Till next time,

 

Grow The Business.

 

Mark

Have A Voice Dawg

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You have a great voice. 

I’m not talking about your American Idol Steven Tyler “Demon of Screamin” voice here that makes Randy Jackson grin.  Rather it’s the voice that is your perspective, your message, your way.    

That voice matters, maybe now more than ever.   That voice needs to be heard. 

You can be “voiceless” by being a fantastic collector and sprayer of facts, figures, options, processes, policies, product specs, special offers, FAQ’s or even of opinions. 

But having a voice means you chose something.  It means you chose some way. 

And nothing influences people more – especially today.

You see, it’s an odd thing this abundance of information we live in.  There is so much of it everywhere and in every way that it is often paralyzing.   There’s a longing that is growing now in consumers and small businesses that when they finally get to talk to a real live human being like you – especially one that has built a semblance of trust, to grab hold of you, shake you at your shoulders, drop to a knee and plead:

“What do you think?” 

Not all business owners and decision makers ( by a long shot) want to do all the research, the analysis, the comparisons or read all  the posts, Tweets and articles before making a decision.

Especially when they can’t discern credible content from just plain ol’ content.   And that, in the plugged in world we live in, is where we are today.

So choose that voice, human!   Have a suggestion.  Have a recommendation.  Have advice.  Have an opinion.  Have a strong opinion.    Heckl, have a soapbox, a vision and a darn dream for your customers.

You can choose to have your voice be based on your own beliefs or of those people or companies or content that you trust, love or study.  It doesn’t matter; if you believe it and you share it; it’s your voice.  

And that, as Steven Tyler would say is.”Yeow-Yak-Yak-Yak-Ooww!”

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

98 Words on That Ringing In Your Ear

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Someday not far off, that phone will ring in your office or in your ear but it won’t ring because someone wants to place an order or because someone wants more information about your product or service.  Those days are fading away.

Someday that phone will ring because someone has an important business problem;  a marketing, sales, service, security or even reputation problem and doesn’t know what to do, where to start or how to fix it.  And that someone will need a talented, brilliant person to help them.

When that phone rings then, will you answer it?  

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

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Mondays are busy. All Monday posts are 100 words or less. 

I Love Dirty Jobs

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I love Discovery TV’s Dirty Jobs.  

They are always looking for new ideas for those dirty jobs.  I wonder if I should send a note to the producers and invite them to come out my way.

 

Dirty Jobs is a popular show where host Mike Rowe performs some of the most difficult and frankly, disgusting jobs done by real people.   These jobs run the gamut from the needed cleaning of shipping lane buoys ( crusted molting squishy marine life that needs to be chiseled off) to scuba diving for hippo poop at a zoo ( where else is it going to go?) and everything in between.

My wife loves Dirty Jobs too but I think she’s just in love with Mike Rowe.   He’s funny, smart and good looking.  Whenever the show pops on she’ll stop whatever she is doing and say “Oh, my Michael is on.”  Once, as she sat next to me on the couch watching the show, she began think out loud and dreamily blathered to nobody in particular, “I wonder if he’s married.”   (He isn’t).

Mike might be a smoldering hunk of handsomeness to some but truth is Dirty Jobs is a tribute to the people who do these jobs.  Mike Rowe simply adores these folks and it shows.  Most are people take great pride in either the “dirty job” at hand or they take pride in that the dirty job is just part of a larger endeavor that needs to get done right.  We here in our work have some jobs like these.  Jobs that are difficult and tough and hard and done by prideful, caring people.   They may lack the “ick” factor for TV but I’m betting they’d be some of the toughest work Mike and crew would love to try. 

Selling On The Phone:   Lots of rejection.  Lots of pressure.  Lots of importance.  Mike and crew would arrive and he’d strap on a headset and give selling a good try.   And he’d fail.  He’s get a lot of “no’s” and even more “annoyed” customers.  He’d get the kind of rejection Mike probably isn’t used to being a TV star and all.  But that’s OK because he would spend time with the pros who do sell well and then cut to a new scene where he’d share what he learned and say “It’s not really “selling” with these sales people, it’s more like they are helping out someone”.

Training:  Especially the “stand up in the classroom 10 hour day with the adults” kind.   This is simply exhausting stuff.  You have to be “on” all day.  Be on target, on message, on time and totally on hand with people who all learn differently and bring and array of attitudes to the party.   We’d give Mike a couple of hours to prep and have him lead the class.  By4 o’clock he’d be triple dog tired and barely able to speak.  No worries though, he’d turn slightly, smile into the camera and tell us how “crazy and tough” real trainers need to be to make learning happen.

Team Leader:  They’re the boss, the support, the help desk, the number watcher (and often the number cruncher), the master listener, the coach and oh by the way, they have one of the most difficult professions in the world; continually improving the performance of people (and sometimes 30+ people at a time).   Mike would set up in a cube and start leadering’ and Boom he gets an irate customer, then the system crashes ( everyone on paper!), the mid day numbers deadline comes and goes and then his boss walks by wondering where first pass of all the employee reviews are.  That’s enough and as Mike’s head is nodding in surrender he looks up at the camera and says “Boss’s day only comes once a year?  What a rip off!”

I think the producers of Dirty Jobs would like the opportunity to come here.  If they decide to come, do me a favor and keep it just between us.  My wife doesn’t need to know.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Silence is Not Golden (And 2 Ways to Avoid It)

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Silence is not golden.     

It might be in the movie theater or as your buddy starts his back swing, but not in Sales. 

I get the whole “Don’t be the first to speak ” thing in Sales when trying to close a deal-  it’s pretty 80’s but that kind of silence has it’s place I guess.

But more often than not, silence from a customer in Sales means either they don’t care or they are confused.  

I’ve written plenty about the don’t care silence problem but confusion makes people quiet too you know.

I heard silence from a customer named Kelly last week.  I was listening in as she called about a service offering.     Dead silence……………….. as the sales rep shared the values of the service………. till she finally said, “I have no idea what “_______”  means”.   It was a critical piece.   She breathed a sigh and chuckled.  She was embarrassed.

Have you ever been in a meeting and no one says a word?  It’s not always because people don’t care.  Silence happens when smart people get lost in a sea of unfamiliar acronyms or in stories of experiences that just aren’t making sense for the discussion.

Did you ever clam up in an electronics department not because you didn’t want the product but because the sales rep wasn’t making sense to you and so you just stopped talking and muttered “all set” and walked away?

You must know your audience.  You must know the relative complexity of your products.  Kelly was a small business owner; a prideful person with a fairly large ego.   Confusion can make people feel dumb.  Confusion can make people tense, even angry.  And most critically, Confusion can stop the talking and the sales process cold. 

2 ways to avoid the Confusion Silence.

1.)     When it is 1 to 1:  When it is just you and he/ she over the phone or face to face; (i.e. nobody else around) – you can ask a simple question before you begin to converse, sell or service.  “To make this most helpful for you, could I ask if you would consider yourself very knowledgeable with _______ ,  somewhat knowledge, or not that familiar with ___________?”  This gets that answer without embarrassment.  This respects that just because you live and breathe your job’s products and processes everyday- most of your clients and prospects don’t – and are starting from a different place than you.

2.)     In a meeting with more than 1 person:  When the room goes quiet and you start to think nobody cares, stop and wonder “are people just confused?”  You could ask that question out loud (like everyone else ridiculously does) and get of course, no response (not many folks want to shout out “I don’t get it!” in front of others) or you can inject this phrase “At this point, some folks often ask about _________ “   or “Sometimes people ask me ________________about this”   and then look around the room.   If you get sudden eye contact from some or head nods, you know you’ve got confusion silence happening and you need to delve differently.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Invaluable

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It’s a goal you can have.  It’s a choice you can make.

Yes you can be helpful, wonderful, fantastic, amazing or even, the best. 

But to be invaluable, that’s better. 

Invaluable to your boss, your partner, your team or your child.  To be priceless.  To be heroic.  To be unfathomably missed.

That takes doing.  That takes more than executing on your skills or tapping into your smarts.       

Invaluable takes big and different dreams.   Invaluable takes stringing together moments of thoughtful brilliance.    Invaluable takes a mission-like obsession.

You know it’s there for each of us.  Let’s go do that. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business

Mark

Mondays are busy.   All Monday posts are 100 words or less.

Love

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I’ve gotten a lot of good natured ribbing lately about the word “Love”.  

Yeah, I helped the talented staff here and designed a short training a couple of weeks back around a particular sales effort.  I recommended that salespeople use the word “love” in voicemails and conversations they have with folks.

Darn proud of it I am.   It’s good thinking.  Heard we got some sales rollin’ in too.   

You don’t like the idea?  Feels uncomfortable for you?  Too bad.  You are missing the point.    

It’s not the word “love” that matters as much as what that type of word does.

You have a choice.  Do you want to sound like every other Sales or Account Rep calling or leaving voicemails for clients and prospects or do you want to be different? 

Do you want to be the 11th voicemail the small business owner picks up that is not a needed customer, or their accountant, or a family member but instead is a sales rep (you) and pray that your brochure-like language gets an inkling of attention?  Or do you want to be memorable?

In Voicemail your biggest obstacle isn’t how you deliver your value, or how you position your offer or if you can sound credible – it’s the dang Delete button. 

You bore and you are no more. 

A word like “Love” in a voice mail or in the first minute of a conversation as in “We sent you a coupon for this because we love you” makes wonderful sense when you are calling on customers with any tenure to your organization.    A word like “Love” as in “I love what you are doing, opening a new business- that is exciting” when working with prospects will surely get attention.

Still feels awkward?  It just doesn’t feel right still? 

Find a way.  You are still missing the point.

“Love” and words very much like it, engage something wonderful in a customer or prospect.  They don’t expect to hear that and in one word, it signals uniquely what you think of them – which is impossible to go unnoticed.   No other vendor, sales rep or partner leaves words like “love” on a voicemail today let alone in a conversation.  And maybe, just maybe if you do this – that customer or prospect will perk their ears up, listen to the rest of the message and who knows, write your number down and call you back.

So whether the word is “love” or “adore” or “cherish”, each will get attention.   And it sets you apart in a memorable, wonderful way that will get you far more business than if you sound like everyone else.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Why I love Dancing With The Stars

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I don’t dance.

Well, I do but it’s frightening.   Think Kevin James dancing in Hitch and that’s me.

I don’t watch dancing and I certainly don’t watch a TV show about dancing with celebrities.  

Three weeks ago my wife and daughter forced me to watch at least the start of this Dancing With The Stars show.  Glumly I sat ( though not that glumly holding an ice cold beer in one hand and a spatula in the other as I had every intention of making a break for the grill as soon as we hit first commercial), and I watched.

I watched it again last night.  There is something about the show that moves me (thankfully not literally) aside from the competition.  Some things I think can make a difference that if like me, they move you too.

It’s uncomfortable.  Stars in their field (like sports or acting) are doing something perhaps against every fiber of their body and mind.  I get that some celebs are addicted to the celebrity or the money but honestly, there are more than a few where it is very clear that the person is both highly comfortable with themselves and yet remarkably self deprecating.  I know people just like that at work and in my life.  They are the best leaders and the best friends.

There’s a mentor.   I want one.  I want a dance pro partner who takes me under her wing and says “This is crazy but you are going to do it anyway”.  I want to stretch and do uncomfortable things, really uncomfortable things and would love that kind of guidance and support and direction from a mentor.    It’s powerful.  Maybe I need to go find one and beg him or her to consider helping me in a space I long to be but seemingly do not fit.  Or maybe, I need to be available as a mentor for someone else who is looking for that unbelievable stretch.

That expertise blows my mind.  The dance professionals – they are athletes at the highest level.  Yet unlike most athletes, they also choreograph the plays.    How many superstar athletes have that vision, that artistic vision, to tell a story on so many levels?  They must interpret the dance, the era, the story, the emotion and oh yeah actually dance it themselves.  That depth of skill is bit unfathomable to me.  See, Create, Direct and Do.  To See, Create, Direct and Do exceeding well yourself is incredible.    Many of us play, gravitate or just settle at doing one of those four things at work.  Why not do them all?

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

How To Avoid Being an HR ( and Customer) Nightmare

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Am I an HR Nightmare? You decide. 

Imagine that you and I just ran into each other in the street.  We’ve never met before. 

I smile and ask, “Excuse me Miss, may I take your hand?” or I smile and ask “You are simply gorgeous, have you ever been a model?” or I smile and I ask “Your place or mine?”

Well?  Am I an HR Nightmare?

Before real HR personnel here race down the hall and escort me out of this building, let me explain why I ask.    There is a lesson here. 

First I understand a majority of you (OK, all of you), would have been appalled and/or frightened if any of the vignettes really happened.   “Hell no!”,   “Get away from me!” and “Police!!” would likely be the vitriol lobbied at me.   

But let’s change the vignettes just a wee bit.

**

Imagine that you and I just ran into each other in the street.  We’ve never met before.

I smile and say “Excuse me, I am a doctor and you don’t look well, may I take your hand?” or I smile and say “I am with Martin & Stevens modeling right here in Boston.  You are gorgeous, have you ever been a model?”  Or I smile and say “I am Detective McCarthy with Boston PD and I need to ask you a few questions – your place or mine?”

 

 **

You get it now.  Makes a little more sense. 

But while I may not be a true HR nightmare; some of us are Customer or Prospect Nightmares.

Within moments of meeting customers or prospects, whether they call us or we call on them, some of us ask questions we have not yet earned the right to ask.   We ask questions like “How’s business?” or “How do you market your business?” or “What challenges do you face?”  Or “What are the goals?”   

And shockingly we often don’t take the time to drop the necessary credibility first.  We never proclaim our being a doctor, an agent or a police officer so to speak and hence we create a whole lot of tension, confusion or even anger.

Tension, confusion or anger by the way, stops the sales process dead in its tracks. 

In a perfect sales world we have the credibility, trust and time already invested and would be able to ask these questions without worry of how a customer or prospect might feel or respond.

But we don’t live in a perfect sales world and yet still need information from our clients.  So when that phone rings or we make that cold call we ask and ask away, sometimes to our detriment. 

Here is a surefire simple way to avoid being a Customer Nightmare (Sorry really can’t help you if you are an HR Nightmare) and improve your chances of getting good questions answered.

  • Preface It:  If you want to ask “How’s business going?” of a small business owner seconds after meeting them – Preface It with “I’m hearing a lot of things from my retailers lately, but how’s business going with you?”  Here your experience with other like customers (retailers) earns you street cred and reduces risk of posing a question that might be considered an affront so early on.    It also piques interest that you may know something of value; which can help you avoid getting booted out the door or off the phone sooner than you’d like.

 

Preface It is a simple formula:  Any variation of Your Experience + Teaser + Customer’s line of business = one heck of an assist to get a good question answered.

Have at it. 

(Next time, I’ll share another tip you can button right on to this one that will greatly enhance your effort to discover well with your customers and prospects).

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Kidnapped

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I realize now I never told him what we were doing and why we were doing it in any real detail.  It just needed to get done. 

I was busy, so he needed to be busy.  I just told him to get in the car with not much more than a “We gotta go!”

We went to Lowe’s.  We went to get him a haircut.  We went to the grocery store.   

Finally on our way to a fourth destination he said, “Am I not a real person here?  Don’t I matter?  Where are we going!!? ”

I realized then that I had essentially kidnapped my 12 year old son.

 

The problem is “Kidnapper” was not on my bucket list.   And a bigger problem might be that it happens in business more than we think.

During the kidnapping, my child felt anxious about where we were going.   He felt anxious about not being able to influence where we were going.   He felt anxious about not having any control of the situation.  And he felt anxious that he’s as the mercy of his captor (me) who is not talking too much. 

In hindsight, I think that if I offered more in guidance, direction or real or perceived collaboration about these errands, he would have felt a lot more comfortable and would have been engaged in helping me get everything done.

In foresight, I wonder if we as leaders or account executives or customer service reps unintentionally “kidnap” our employees or customers at times.    I wonder if we unintentionally kidnap these folks in a major way for as long as weeks or months or in a mini way for as little as hours or minutes.   Either way, kidnapping is a problem.

I wonder in the rush to get the message out, the order placed, the demo done or that call completed if we aren’t always so clear enough about where we are going and why we are going there. 

I wonder if we aren’t open minded enough about being influenced or sharing some control along the way in these and other situations.   I wonder if we don’t realize that our charges or customers feel as if they are at times, at our mercy.

What I don’t wonder about is this; If there is anxiousness about where, why or about influence or control, then employees and customers just stop.  Stop listening, stop caring and in the worst case, stop attaching themselves to you.

In the end, ask yourself if you’ve ever heard or sensed iterations of my son’s words to me on Saturday from an employee or customer.   “Do I matter?  Where are we going!? ” If the answer is yes then check the kidnapping skills at the door.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark