Say Something Nice ( & 3 Ways To Do It)
Your mother was right about having something nice to say. Especially if your clients are businesses.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
learning
Wouldn’t It Be Nice
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Wouldn’t It Be Nice
Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a little more free time, just maybe this one Friday, to spend with your kids?
Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to worry so much about being half way through the month and the pile of bills on the desk is already 8 inches high?
Wouldn’t it be nice if you felt like you could be more confident about what people thought of you?
Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to worry about being safe or being taken advantage of by anyone?
Wouldn’t it be nice you felt like you can’t focus on the important things because you are so darn busy?
Wouldn’t it be nice to not always pray that nobody really knows just how confused you are about some things some of the time?
It sure would be.
But I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about the small business owner you. He or she is thinking these things all darn day and you can help them.
You serve these people. You help these people. You love these people.
And chances are what you do and what you have helps every one of them with all of the angst they have above.
Maybe you can help them put that best face forward to the whole world both online and off- line. Maybe you can get them more calls, more visits, more leads and more money for that stack of bills. Maybe you can take hours off their plates with your super cool products, services or widgets so they can take this afternoon with the kids. Maybe you can secure their payments or their business or their workers and lessen the worry. Maybe you can help them feel it’s OK not to quite understand digital marketing or financial products or even custom full color print because heck, you’ll teach em’.
Make no mistake. The products you are schlepping are worth nothing. They are silly, stupid and dumb. It’s what they do that matters. And further, it’s what they do emotionally that really matters.
So go out there and help these people. Make their day. Don’t talk about pricing and sizes and subscriptions and colors and shipping fees. Help them take a load off and ease a bit of their burdens.
Wouldn’t that be nice?
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Seriously, Which Is Better?
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Somebody walks into your shop or calls you. You can ask a series of silly questions or a wicked awesome one. Which will you do? First of a series on the topic!
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Scrabble
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You can call it volunteering if you want but I just call it “an old fashioned whoopin’ that keeps on giving”
It’s true I’ve been known to head to the local Sr. Center and um… volunteer to play scrabble with some of the folks that hang out there. My objective is twofold: give of my time and talent to these wonderful folks and of course, to win.
Scrabble is a great game. It’s a great game for anyone. It keeps the mind sharp.
Let’s all agree to that helping drive interest in the playing of Scrabble is a good thing – especially at a Senior Center. Let me make an argument that it’s even better when I do it. Scrabble in my hands for a mere hour a week, is a series of important life lessons for all of us.
- Losing never gets old. Chances are overwhelming that you will lose to me. (Ok, well 2 weeks ago was an exception – but I’ve got my eye on you Betsy). There’s no age when losing should stop. Life is funny like that; the only time losing stops pretty much is when you’ve given up trying something or are no longer literally getting in the game. My trouncing you is therefore, good for you.
- Chi is good, really good. Chi is a word that means vital internal energy. Good chi is exactly what you want in your Senior Center and exactly what you want in Scrabble. With me as your Scrabble guide, you’ll get vitally energized when you learn that you can spell “chi” for immense points in two other ways with just two letters as in “xi” and “qi”. What fun! When I did this for 31 points, Kathy shot me a look and then spewed out two other choice letters tied together that I can’t mention, but nevertheless, this is a teaching moment! – Teaching never grows old, even if we do.
- Without rules there’s Chaos. Just because we may have a little more life experience doesn’t mean rules get lax. I have a lot of personal rules about Scrabble I think are endearing and truly in the spirit of the game. One rule is that you should never put down a word that you cannot use in a sentence. Nancy disagreed when I asked her about “el” and then slammed down her 4 page print-out of acceptable 2 letter Scrabble words and said “That’s stupid- it’s a word! But to make you happy, how about you shutting the el up?” Funny now but she’ll think about it later and realize how much I’ve taught her.
This week at my suggestion, we’ve added a Scrabble trophy for the winner of the weekly matches. The winner keeps it for the week, snapping and posting photos of you and your trophy around town. A nice incentive to work hard every week and improve your game I say. My Scrabble mates liked the idea but suggested if I win, to take a photo of myself and the trophy at the end of a long walk on a short pier.
Not very nice but chi is xi baby– bring it on!
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
The 4 Best Sales Pick-Up Lines Ever
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The 4 Best Sales Pick Up Lines Ever
Want to get a date with your prospect? Want to see if you make those sparks fly? Or maybe you want to date your current customer and move into a deeper more satisfying relationship.
Pick up lines work great.
My favorite one in college (worked darn near every time) was when I sauntered up to an unsuspecting attractive young lady at the bar and said “I can play Lionel Ritchie songs on the piano, you wanna hear some? ”
But I’ve grown and realized that pick-up lines aren’t just for your love life. They’re for work too.
Here are my top 4
“I know people just like you, in fact I spent the weekend in Vegas with hundreds of them” – This one is always good; you’re smart about their business – you went to a trade show in their industry and bragged about it. You’ll be fun and a good listener.
“You may not know this, but I’ve been watching you..”. Creepy? No, not at all. You’ve been watching them on social media, maybe read their posts or blogs. You might have even read their financial reports. You’re the type that makes people and businesses feel special. You’re a nice talker, not a stalker.
“I’m learning about the most entrepreneurial and successful people, do have a minute for me to interview you?” This one is always great. People like to help people and especially if they can talk about themselves too! You’re sure to get some time and maybe even for way more than a minute!
“Do you believe in love at first sight or should I show you that again?” Great line to use In your presentation when you are super proud of your stuff – your product or your solution. It is very contagious and attractive to be proud so be proud! You’ll have prospects fawning all over you.
Till next time,
Truly Grow The Business.
Mark
Inherently Suspenseful
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Inherently Suspenseful
The Wall Street Journal published an article touting the growth of golf on play-by-play on radio. “So what” you say? Well, hear me out – there’s a lesson for us.
It’s true that golf on radio is growing – but that wasn’t what struck me as the most interesting point of the article. The article touted how popular golf is on TV and I admit I’m a huge fan. I’ve always told people that I like to watch TV golf because it’s relaxing and frankly, being from New England, the weather is always better there than out my window.
That’s why I think I like TV golf. But I know now that’s not the reason.
The writer of the article (John Paul Newport) said this about golf on TV, “Television discovered that watching the little ball sail through the air for several long seconds, to land who-knows-where, was inherently suspenseful.”
Brilliant insight.
So that’s why I watch it. It is inherently suspenseful. And sure I like the physics and geometry of it all; playing angles and surfaces and the wind which by the way, adds to the suspense of where that little white ball is going to land.
And I got to thinking about those fleeting moments every day that are inherently suspenseful for us; getting the mail ( what’s there?), getting an email ( what is this about?) , a comment, a poke, an update or a post ( I wonder what this is?). And what about the scratch cards, the monopoly tickets, even the daily specials – we are suckers for this stuff. We love small things that are inherently suspenseful.
Add up a bunch of those inherently suspenseful moments and maybe you get to be like golf on TV with some eyes watching you. How good would that be for business?
Each Apple IOS release is inherently suspenseful ( what new features and benefits to me are there?). Each TED series talk is inherently suspenseful (where will this go?). These days even the smaller businesses are getting in the suspense game; will the pizza place write out a joke inside the box cover? Trade shows are inherently suspenseful ( what will be in the booth? What’s new?) and of course social media tools done right deliver suspense ( FourSquare, Facebook and YouTube).
Inherently suspenseful is attractive. There’s surely a ton of great ways people are doing it today you can discover, but keep your head down and that left arm straight and look for those moments in your personal interactions with clients or in your business’s interactions and string some fleeting moments of suspense together.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Rethink
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Rethink
If you want to totally rethink what you are doing in business you need to get your customers to rethink what they’re doing.
And if you really do get them to rethink what they’re doing – that’s a huge win for you.
Apple did it. Like for the last 10 years.
Advanced Auto Small Engine Repair in my little town did it on Friday.
It’s a tough world out there. Most of us in sales and service know that even when customers love us – they are, by the time they call about that new service you’ve been pitching or your flyer or your email, – they’ve done the research and while you’re still in the game- it’s a price war between you and your competitors or them sticking with the status quo- just doing what they’ve always done.
Disrupt the thinking upstream. Teach. Preach. Challenge.
Be that person or that company.
Apple did it –blah blah blah we know that. And their disruptive tech did make us rethink what we are doing but it extends elsewhere too. Do you think they did some research and asked you and me if when you go in the store, that we wanted some 6 foot 3 bearded technical guru to greet you in the first 8 feet, get your name and ask what you are here for? Heck no.
They just did it. And that’s the way it is. We have been taught. But we had been taught before by Apple. They reshaped our thinking. We believe. We trust.
I had a first world problem Thursday night. My snowblower after a total of 3 feet exploded. Well I thought it exploded: the chute shot into the air about 10 feet. I don’t have a clue. Next day, my wife got a recommendation from a friend about Advanced Auto and they drove up, loaded the snowblower on the truck and then plowed my driveway. Plowed the driveway. They didn’t ask, they didn’t check, they just did it.
3 hours later they returned with a fixed blower, an education about the machine, a conversation about what I should watch for, an invitation to learn more and not a word about plowing the driveway except humble acknowledgment of my thanks.
While Advantage Auto didn’t wholly disrupt my thinking – they did reshape my thoughts about service expectations and education in a small way. It’s a great start for them. I grabbed 6 of their business cards and a promise to myself about saying a few things on social media.
The perfect world for changing your business or your approach is realizing and then innovating on changing the way your customers not just think and work with you, but changing the way they do their own business for the better.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
There’s Something About The Plastic!
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My Cat in a rare moment not licking plastic
There’s Something About The Plastic!
“There’s something about the plastic!” is a hilarious phrase around our house these days. And I think there’s an interesting business lesson to it as well. Let me tell you why.
I have a cat. I like cats. My cat likes plastic. I like plastic too. But not like my cat. My cat would lick plastic all day long if you let him. Plastic bags, plastic wrappers, plastic sheet protectors, empty plastic zip lock bags ( his fav) or pretty much anything plastic including the Tupperware kind of stuff. I have no idea why.
My son’s friend Jamie heard me incredulously exclaim (after seeing the cat lick a zip lock bag for an hour) how crazy it is that the darn cat licks plastic all day long and Jamie shouted “That’s what all cats do!!” He said it with the obvious tone that he knew the answer as to why they do. I leaned forward and could not wait for the answer – I needed to know!. And then Jamie said…. “There’s something about the plastic!”
That was it. He had no idea why either. And that’s why we all collapsed on the floor laughing and why the phrase now is spoken, texted and emailed randomly among us for last 6 weeks especially when someone texts or says something worthy (unworthy).. “There’s something about the plastic!” is the label we put on something said that brings absolutely nothing new, interesting or valuable to the conversation.
There’s a bit of that that goes on at work too eh? Here are 6 of my favorite phrases (often shouted out ( like Jamie did)) that mean nothing or are just plain let downs. I have been guilty of a few of these myself for sure. Please feel free to add yours in the comments section!
- “We tried that a few years ago, it worked great.” [And why is it not still here? Usually heard in a brainstorm meeting]
- “Just gotta get people to offer it more. ” [usually in a sales meeting- we all know it’s more complicated than that]
- “There’s a right way and a wrong way to do this” [usually followed by silence. Thanks cpt Obvious.]
- “We need better leads” [ I’ve been on all sides – selling to feed my family, sales management & training and I can say never in my 25 years have I seen where that is true – it’s how you work the leads ( or better, make your own) that matters ]
- “People need to be retrained” [OK –so this hits home today in my role but seriously- it’s a rare day that folks need “retraining” – what they really need is” re-selling” of the content by a leader or “re-coaching” or “re – holding people accountableness-ness”
- “We have to prioritize this with everything else.” [Guilty am I here at times on this but think about how often we really hear it. And how “future tense” it is. Worthless. And usually it never does get prioritized because that means something needs to be “de prioritized” and that is courage not enough of us have in excess. ]
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
I Am Joe’s Goals
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I Am Joe’s Goals
It’s my favorite time of year! I miss Joe. It’s been a while.
This year is gonna be a great one I can tell. A Moleskin notebook baby, it’s Moleskin! Joe actually went to Barnes & Noble (like really walked in a brick and mortar store) and purchased this here fancy schmancy, jet black paper journal to write me down in.
There I am all smilin’ and stuff – that’s me right here on the first page ready to go!
“My Goals 2014”
Here we go!
Um. He stepped away for a minute I guess…
While I got ya – let me tell you about last couple of years – what a ride! Last year I was on his IPad. That was pretty awesome slipping and sliding all over the place getting blown up and then minimized like a 5 times a day (at least in the beginning). But by February zoom!; he’d swipe my butt every time he’d see me and I’d go screeching off to my right like at 100 mph into darkness again, again and again. After a while I was buried in a sea of other Apps. Not fun. I was not front and center like this Moleskin journal. This book is all for me baby, nobody but me.
The year before the IPad thing I was on some yellow legal paper he bought and that was cool. But I got confused when he started carrying me around to meetings. At first I thought it was good cuz’ it seemed like he was looking at me a lot (like he should) but then he started like writing loads of stupid meeting notes under me ( that he never looked at again mind you) and then started writing numbers down just below our 5 goals for the year that had nothing to do with the goals! The last thing I remember was he drew this flower thing right through our goals that became a dragon that became a wizard with a dog or something and then I heard this massive tearing sound and I just blacked out and started tumbling and tumbling and then…but here he comes… that’s a story for another day….
OK here we go…he’s starting to write me down for 2014!
“Be a better father”
“Earn more money”
“Lose 25 pounds”
Oh poo. What the heck are those?
Joe! Joe! Joe! Will you never learn? My Goal friends at Club Dead (It’s where Goals go to die) tell me the great stories about the Goals that don’t come back starving and looking for some late year bloomers to pick them up in February. They say they hang on because their original owners because they write down “why” they want to be a better father, why they want make more money and why they want to lose weight in great detail! AND that you have to write out the real steps and timelines you want to achieve to reach each of these goals. AND that you have to look at these every day, set a target to achieve something each day towards each of these goals and mark your progress.
I’m guessing Joe; if you don’t do these things the same results are going to happen to us which has been for the last few years at least, mostly “nada” for our goals. There is so much room here in the journal; you’ve got to take the time to do it!
Shoot, he just closed that cover on me. I hope he heard me. I like the promise of this journal but if he doesn’t get better at writing me out – I’m heading back to Club Dead. Again.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
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10 Things You’re Doing Wrong at Work
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You’re Doing It Wrong
Duh. Sad part is at some points in my life (and some more recent than others) I’m guilty of every one of these.
- Coaching to “gaps” first. Neurological and observation data proves coaching to strengths first and more often than coaching to gaps, results in better performance.
- Thanking a customer for calling. How silly. Welcome them, Greet them or Wow them and then Thank them (profusely) for the business at the end of the call.
- Nobody has ever asked anyone, in the entire history of the world, for more PowerPoints to help them learn something. But we keep on giving.
- If what you bring to the sales or service party is the exact same thing that can be found on your website, brochures or catalogs, you’re doing it wrong.
- Thinking that in this global, democratized and highly connected world that the real selling is over when they “sign on the line that is dotted”. Au contraire – it is just beginning.
- Time snobbery. Obsessing and devaluing content, books, blogs and videos if their origination date is more than 6 months old. Newer is not always better or different or smarter. Quit it.
- 8 days and near 24/ 7 hours spent in a war room to fix a run of bad performance and just 8 minutes on a conference call celebrating landing a large client or exceeding performance for the month.
- In your office. All day. On the phone. And you haven’t seen a manufacturing floor, the call center, some customers, suppliers or a lunch with a department in months.
- Asking a question of a client or prospect that has no apparent immediate benefit to them to answer. That’s just not smart.
- Reading this post and agreeing (or not) and just leaving it there. Pick one, two or six that resonate with you and make a plan and execute upon it today.
Till next time,
Grow The Business.
Mark
Mark McCarthy's Blog 