Jeff Korhan

Using Foursquare to Maximize Engagement at Conventions

Move over Twitter, Foursquare is now the hot social media tool for maximizing engagement at conventions, meetings, and events.

I've attended more conventions, meetings, and events than I could ever recount.  How about you?  Why do we continue to attend these events?  For the engagement with like-minded professionals, influencers, associates, and friends.  

I have also sat on boards and committees that planned them.  And while I would like to believe that speakers and presenters like me are what make these events successful, the truth is the engagement between industry peers is consistently the number one reason members attend their association conventions.

Meeting planners know this.  They know association members show for networking, and that is why they need to start getting familiar with Foursquare. 

Foursquare is a location-based (LB) social media tool that brings people together to connect, communicate, and collaborate about what is going on in their businesses, and to better share the experience of the event they are attending. It doesn't replace other engagement tools such as Twitter, rather it works in conjunction with them to enhance their effectiveness.

How Foursquare Works

Foursquare works by encouraging you to check-in at specific locations or venues.  It is used every day by users who check into restaurants, coffee shops, airports, and just about any location you can imagine.  Your LB or location-based status is announced to your friends who then have the opportunity to engage with you if they happen to be nearby.  

Imagine participating in a huge convention where you have colleagues and friends who also may be attending.  Instead of randomly calling or texting to determine everyone's whereabouts, everyone knows what is happening instantly with Foursquare.

What if your friends are not presently connected to Foursquare?  No problem, because each time you check in you have the option to not only announce your location to your Foursquare friends, but to also push that message out to your Twitter and Facebook connections.  Odds are if you do that you will soon get a group together for productive networking.

Foursquare is now available on virtually all mobile devices, including Blackberry, Android, Palm, and my preferred device, the iPhone.

How Foursquare Can Work for Conventions

In the real world, Foursquare is used by restaurants, as one example, to crown their most frequent visitors as Mayors by providing them with their Mayor Badge.  I've seen promotions from some establishments that declare Foursquare Mayors Drink for Free.  There can only be one mayor, but the whole idea is to build a buzz that gets everyone involved and interacting.

I can envision using Foursquare at conventions to have an Expo or Trade Show Mayor, an Education Session Mayor, and a Host Hotel Mayor.  To take this further, how about having Mayors for each exhibitor in the Trade Show?  I don't believe the technology for this is here now, but we are told it is coming.  And in social media time, that may well mean sometime next week!

Tips You Should Know

When I first started experimenting with Foursquare a few months ago, I succumbed to the suggestion that it was going to be the next Twitter.  However, recently I discovered that my phone number and email address is shared with all of my 'friends.'  Knowing this, I now reserve my Foursquare friendships on a more selective basis along the lines of Facebook, as opposed to Twitter.  

Successful association conventions involve an ecosystem of the association itself, along with the members, vendors, and other friends that support the association - and in turn support each other.  This interdependency is what will make Foursquare a viable tool for more effectively accomplishing everyone's convention objectives.

Networking is about people engaging to accomplish mutual objectives.  The critical success factor is bringing them together into a common location.

This is what Foursquare can do to enhance the effectiveness of your convention, trade show, meeting, or event.

If you are interested in learning more about Aligning Social Media Strategy for Association Events, I will be doing two FREE webinars in April with my friend, green industry colleague, and association executive with the Snow and Ice Management Association, Brian Birch.   These webinars will be hosted by Engage365, an online knowledge community for association and corporate meeting professionals.

You can connect with me on Foursquare by searching for Jeff Korhan.

Feng Shui Productivity from the Web

Here's a productivity tip that will save you time and energy.  And it's so simple.  Which is exactly why it works.

You have a recycle bin on your laptop that you use to discard unnecessary computer files.  You toss them into the recycle bin and empty it periodically. 

Why not do the same with your paper files? 

Instead of anguishing over whether or not to read industry periodicals because you are afraid you will not be fully informed, why not forget about them for a while.  Get them off your desk.  Toss them into a "Feng Shui Recycle Bin" in the back of your desk file drawer. 

Here's what is going to happen.  You will get them out of the way. This frees up your attention - and energy, so that you can now focus on more important matters.  You can do the same with faxes you have recently sent, and so many other documents that suck up your energy through unnecessary attention.

Your Feng Shui Recycle Bin will clear a space that frees your mind, and in the process, increases your productivity.  It works because in the back of your mind you know that paper is there if you need it, but you will find that 99% of the time you never will!   

Do you half-read industry publications because you feel you must.  Stop!  Put them into your Feng Shui Recycle Bin and you will feel safe.  They are there if you need them.  That's the power of this tool.

Just like the recycle bin on your laptop, you can periodically empty this one.  This practice will remind you that you don't need that junk - and that alone will energize you even more.  Amazing, isn't it?

If you are not familiar with Feng Shui, it is a science that helps human beings harmonize with their environment.  You can interpret that in many ways.  In the work environment, this means productivity. 

Since selling my landscape business two years ago, I no longer practice Feng Shui as I did when I designed meditation and healing gardens.  Nevertheless, I still respect and honor these principles that enable me to be more effective in my work with social media marketing.

Some people think of Feng Shui as an esoteric science.  Here's the thing; you don't have to be trained in it to understand it.  It is common sense.  As a landscape architect, I understood that good design was good Feng Shui.

If you are really interested in Feng Shui, I highly recommend The American Feng Shui Institute.  This is where I learned and earned my certification with Master Larry Sang and Chris and Sophia Shaul, - more years ago than I care to mention.

Social media and Feng Shui have one thing in common.

They are about people, and how they interact in a shared environment to accomplish more - more easily.

 Photo Credit: dycmo

Using Google Alerts More Effectively

 
Google Alerts are an invaluable tool for monitoring your online presence or a very specific topic. 

The most common use of Google Alerts is staying on top of the Web presence of the most important person in our lives - ME!  And on this increasingly humanized Web, that is certainly a recommended practice to take advantage of positive mentions of your personal brand, and also to manage those negative comments.

The Web is a big place and specificity is the key to effectively using this tool.  Here are some tips for doing that.

Getting Started

The first step in using Google Alerts is to get a gmail address that establishes your Google Account.  Then simply go to Alerts in their menu of services and start setting up the words or phrases that you wished to be informed on.  You have a choice for being informed via email or with an RSS feed to your Google Reader, which you can use more easily with iGoogle.

Use ALL of Your Names

You have more "names" than you may realize.  Traditionally, we think of having a legal name and a nickname.  However, the Internet has created a need for more names that you should also be monitoring.  This includes usernames, addresses, and URL's. 

Because you do not know which name will be indexed, or sometimes which portion, you will be wise to establish a complete system of alerts that aims to go fishing for all them.

Your Name

Mostly I go by Jeff Korhan, but my legal name is Jeffrey J. Korhan, so I have alerts set for both. 

If there happens to be a famous persona that shares your name, use the minus sign to exclude them from the data sent to you.  For example, if your name is Bill Gates.

Set the alert like this in quotes to exclude (subtract) the famous namesake by using an associative term, such as: "Bill Gates - Bill Gates Microsoft." 

Social Media UserName

To simplify your life, it is best to choose one username and stick with it on all of your networks.  Mine is jeffkorhan - which is my name without spaces.  Yet, as far as Google is concerned, that one little space makes a difference.

Twitter UserName

Once again, one little symbol makes a huge difference.  @jeffkorhan is my Twitter username.  The key is to include the @ symbol.

Incidentally, Google is not going to index all of your Tweets.  However, once in a while one gets indexed.  You may as well know which ones those are. 

Website Name

For me this is jeffkorhan.com.  The key is the .com.  Because whether  your URL is indexed as http://, or www, or both together, because they are all contiguous, it is going to be the "yourURL.com" - or whatever extension applies, that distinguishes your site.

Company Name

If you are a small business owner, your personal name and company name are practically synonymous.  Setting alerts for your company name keeps you informed on any mentions on the Web so that you can encourage positive comments, and address any negative  talk.  

Plus, if you happen to have a registered or trademarked name or names, you are obligated to respond to infringing uses to protect your rights. 

Related Names

Related to your work as a small business are the products and services you provide, key customers, your competitors and what they are up to, and industry associations you are a member of.

In this area especially, you will have to discriminate and suspend Alerts if the content gets too overwhelming.  While I do a lot of work in the green industry, there is more content there than I have time to digest, so I discontinued those alerts.

Take a Drink

Google alerts just bring you to the trough of water.  It's up to you to take drink.  The important thing is to click through the indexed links and see where they take you.  When appropriate, make a response.  There is one thing other bloggers appreciate, and that is when a mentioned source shows up to participate in the conversation.

For example, I was recently mentioned in a post by the Social Media Club of France.  I discovered the link through Google Alerts and dropped down an appreciative comment, to which they graciously responded.  You won't see the comments in the link above because they have not yet been indexed.

Going beyond analytics to use Google Alerts for human interaction and building community is the highest use of this sometimes tedious work of monitoring your personal and company brands. 

It Works Fast

So, how fast do Google Alerts work?  This post went live at 11:54 a.m. CDT.  As you can see from the image below, at 12:19 p.m. - just 25 minutes later,  this post was indexed and an email sent to me.  Very nice, huh?!

If you have enjoyed this post, please leave a comment below.  Let me know other topics you would like covered and I'll do my best.  And feel free to use the buttons below to share this post with your community.

Photo Credit: Floeschie

One Funny Customer Relationship Metric

My accountant has taken care of my tax returns for over twenty years.  During that stretch we have been through a lot together.   I did some work for him when I owned my contracting business, and he has done plenty of work for me, including successfully navigating an extensive IRS audit that involved all of my businesses. 

If you are actively involved with your customers, you get to know them well.  We call this engagement on the social networks.  This relationship building process takes time.  There aren't any shortcuts.  It is a process of discovering what works and what doesn't. 

After you achieve a certain level of trust, everything is easy.  You take it all in stride.

When I did that landscape work for Scott's new home, everything worked out great.  Then he hired me to do the maintenance to keep everything looking sharp.  After a few years he just had me deliver materials and he provided his own labor.  Over time, he did it all himself.  I thought he was a bit thrifty, but I figured it was part of his DNA.  He's an accountant!

My landscape and snow-plowing businesses were sold a couple of years ago.  The timing was perfect, as the following year was a tough one for most contractors.  Although, it hasn't been bad at all lately for snow contractors.  It seems everyone is getting snow.

It takes time to shut down a business, but the expenses seem to keep rolling in from longstanding commitments.  That's why I was pleasantly surprised to see this "Recession Discount" on the invoice from Scott for preparing the tax returns.

A year later I am focused on only one business - helping entrepreneurs and small businesses with their online marketing through speaking, consulting and some new information products and services that are in the making.  Despite the recession 2009 turned out to be a year I was proud of, and that was my goal - to the letter.   

This year is shaping up well, so I gave Scott a visit last week to get my 2009 returns done so I can stay focused on work.  Everything went much more smoothly this year thanks to some new relationships and services, such as Shoeboxed, that are helping to keep me organized. 

Nevertheless, and this is most important, I reminded this thrifty CPA to be sure to include my recession discount again.  He did that, while also sending me a message that speaks volumes about our relationship.

How do you know you have a strong business relationship with someone?  When its not all business.  When you can kid around with them as your would any other friend.

Humor is another form of trust.  There is risk with humor, so it is only used when the relationship allows for it.  It doesn't include numbers, but it is a valuable metric that you can have confidence in.

And it makes any relationship stronger.

Unconventional Measures Give You An Edge

Last week I flew Hawaiian Airlines to a speaking engagement where I was informed that my regulation carry-on bag was non-conforming, but not because it was over-sized.  It didn't fit the weight limit of 25 pounds that is specific to this carrier. 

While I was not a happy camper, I realized this was a brilliant move by Hawaiian Air to manage one aspect of their business better by measuring what I suspect most of their peers are not.

This experience led me to consider how I measure my work with social media.  It may give you some insights.

Develop Customer-Based Parameters

When everyone is using the traditional measurements, differentiate your company by measuring what isn't being measured. Social media marketers tend to measure the number of contacts, connections, or friends they have on the respective networks.

Are there better ways to measure your social media strength or power?  Sure, their are plenty.  If you work in a tight market you may wish to measure by location.  If you are targeting a specific customer type, then you may wish to think like your customers and measure parameters that are more relevant to your customers, such as the distance between you and them.

The best way to find out what you should be measuring may be to ask your customers.  Find out what is important to them.  You may be surprised.  And it may just help you to find more customers like them.

Maintain a People Perspective

If you work with businesses, and most of us do, consider expanding your data collection to help you better understand the companies you work with. Why not set a goal to get connected with as many people as possible within the same company.  It should go without saying that this will make you a more valuable resource.

It is easy to sell to owners and executives while overlooking those that may have a great deal to say about whether or not you get hired, or continue to be a trusted source.  This is a smart approach in this relationship economy.

Seek the Most Relevant Data

Large numbers are relevant when you are mass marketing or Internet marketing.  However, today most of us are using social media marketing.  Our measures should be more human than just numbers. We should be collecting personal data that we can use to better engage with people to build stronger relationships.

The problem with numbers is they are faceless, especially when they are taken out of context.  Nobody wants to be a number. We want to be your friend.  How can you measure friendship.  It may not even be possible, but it is still worth considering.

Keep it simple.  When did we first meet?  Where did we meet?  This is what we all tend to remember, or should.  It's what humanizes our relationship. 

Measure What Matters

Recently I spoke at a tree care convention.  During one group discussion one member of that association suggested that in his business it is all about finding customers that "care about trees."   Maybe he said that for his company it's about finding "tree lovers."

You get the idea. 

Measure what really matters.

Photo Credit:  Jek in the box

The Highest Use of Your Blog

multiplies your ability to better serve your market.

A few days ago I was talking with a new client.   In our brief conversation regarding the social media strategy for his green industry business, he casually mentioned a specific concern that was the inspiration for my previous post on managing negative comments on the Web.

That post generated a surprising level of interest, on a weekend no less, which reminded me to share with you how I use my blog for its highest use.  While I have previously written about what you should blog about, today I will give you specific methods that you are probably familiar with, but that you may not have developed into a productive blogging strategy.

Listen

Your prospects and customers are a rich source of information that can help you serve them better - provided you are willing to take action.  Your customers presumably share the same issues, concerns, and problems.  Yet, only a few of them will truthfully open up and share their feelings with you.  This is one of the challenges with direct-selling.

One generally underused means of acquiring this information is through online surveys.  You may be able to get more reliable feedback by experimenting with acknowledging the participants identity and keeping them anonymous.  Compare the results and the response rate. Then compare those results with what your clients are telling you in casual conversation. 

One reason I am an advocate of comparing and tracking is that it is easy for a small business with a generally small client base to make false assumptions.  It's easy to assume the minority of vocal clients represent the whole.  It's also easy to assume all of your clients will tell you the truth.   Why would they lie?  A couple of reasons include protecting your feelings and their ego or reputation. 

Have you ever had a client tell you how good you are and then switch to a competitor without warning?  Often the reason is you were not listening.  Or you did listen but didn't take action.

Take Action

Use your blog as an extension of your conversations to show your clients how you can solve the problems you believe are the most relevant.  If it is indeed a relevant problem, you have now enhanced your credibility in a number of ways.  You have demonstrated you are a listener who takes action, and you have provided proof of your capabilities to other customers who may share that same problem.

This may even result in previously silent customers stepping forward to acknowledge your wisdom, which builds your relationship with them, and every other customer who happens to be reading.

Learn

Your blog provides you with incredibly valuable information that you cannot get anywhere else, and certainly not at the low cost of free.   The beauty of blog analytics is they are more likely to be valid because the audience is invisible  They have no reason to give you anything other than the unvarnished truth.  Look for spikes in your traffic and analyze the heck out of them.  Then look for patterns with the posts that created those spikes.

When you are blogging, you are not going to hit the mark as often as you you will wish.  This is why it pays to blog as often as possible.  I find that I consistently score well with every 3 to 4 posts, and exceptionally well about every 7 or eight.  That means I hit a home run nearly every week, which may be every year or so for the undisciplined blogger.  The simple lesson is you have to both listen and take consistent action.

All of this may seem to be tedious, and it can be.  What keeps me interested is the thrill of the hunt.  I love the challenge of helping my customers and those future customers in my market.  If that is tedious and boring for you, then maybe you should switch from the marketing department to something more exciting like accounting.  :)

Photo Credit:  Zoltan Papp

The Only Writing and Speaking Tip You Need

Trust yourself and the right words will come.

We are Different, and the Same

Today I had a conversation with a green industry peer about how to speed up the process of writing a good quality blog post.

I had a similar conversation with my son Zak about giving his next presentation in his high school speech class without notes.

And to be honest, even though I speak professionally, I have to remind myself of this in preparation for my speech to tree care professionals tomorrow.  Yep, I get anxious before a big talk - and sometimes even a small writing project.

Learn, then Forget

Here is a post I wrote on speed blogging.  There are links in there to several other sources.  This will help you to build your skills.  But that isn't what I'm talking about here.  You can have all the skills in the world and still struggle.  You actually have to learn to go beyond those skills.  You have to trust.

If you sweat the details, seek perfection, and do all of the things you and I were trained to do through our formal education, then you still may fall short of your capabilities.  I'm suggesting you may want to learn to forget - not what you know, but how you apply what you know.

Here is a personal example that may help you.

Get in the Groove

I have some time this evening to practice more for my presentation tomorrow - and I will.  However, I am confident I know the material.  I just need to get off to a good start and I will be fine.  More practice is just going to wind me up and increase the anxiety.  So what is my secret? I'm doing it now.  Blogging!

I discovered by accident that writing settles me down before a presentation.  What works for you?  What will help you hammer out your blog posts in record time. It may be as simple as the right piece of inspirational music that gets you jazzed. 

Give it a try.

But more importantly, learn to trust yourself. 

My friend shared this quote from Mark Twain that is insightful and humorous - and true.

" I know my worrying pays off and helps fix things because any problem I worry about never comes about!"

Photo Credit:  WallyG

Back-Up Your Blog

Or risk losing thousands of hours of inspiration, perspiration, and motivation.

Today I deleted two blogs.  It was tough to do this because these blogs were my foray into the world of blogging.  However, both were specific to my landscape business, which I sold two years ago next week.  And while I extensively speak and consult to the green industry, from a subject matter standpoint, this blog is where my focus is.

Deleting those blogs was just as easy as deleting a document.  One push to get to the "Are you sure?" level, and then one more to get rid of them forever.  I did the same with the RSS feeds at Feedburner, which was equally scary.  Why? 

I just wanted to be absolutely certain that this blog - jeffkorhan.com, is here for as long as I'm on this planet, and maybe longer.  So, that got me thinking about safeguarding my inspiration and hard work.  After all, this blog is my legacy of hard work.

Back It Up

Do yourself a favor - back up your blog.  And then back that back-up to the cloud.  I personally find Jungledisk to be a joy to use.  Unlike other Web based back-up services such as Mozy, Jungledisk is a virtual hard-drive.  This means you get your data back within minutes.  With Mozy and others like it, plan on approximately 4 hours or more.  That just isn't acceptable if I have a crisis just before a presentation.

WordPress Back-Up

Sometime soon I am going to write a post that will give an objective side-by-side comparison of the blogging platform I use and recommend, which is TypePad, and the other one with legions of fans - WordPress.  I use both now, as I'm a guest blogger on several WordPress platforms.  I will write that post after I build a WordPress blog next week, which will allow me to objectively compare with the dozens of TypePad blogs I've built.

Let's first look at the method for backing up a WordPress blog.  (Click on both images to enlarge.)

This is step one of approximately ten necessary steps.  While it is laid out very clearly, you can see from the sidebar that you will still have to answer questions related to SQL, plug-ins, and things like that.  If you don't know what those are, then you get my point.   

Most important is what is written at the top of this screenshot.  "It is strongly recommended you back-up your blog at regular intervals and before an upgrade."  As you can imagine, you can actually lose all of your data when making an upgrade to your Wordpress blog, which is something you have to do to stay ahead of viruses and the like.

I covered this in detail after Mashable broke a trending story on a WordPress virus last year.  Here's my post recommending Wordpress users take action.

TypePad Back-Up

As you may have surmised, I prefer TypePad.  I don't have to worry about upgrades or viruses.  TypePad takes care of that.  Better yet, the procedure for backing up your TypePad blog is extremely simple. 

You push one button and that's it!  You are presented with a .txt file that you then save to your hard drive.  As long as you do that every now and then, Jungledisk automatically takes care of the rest. 

 
Furthermore, you can see it is also a simple matter to import your blog to TypePad.  If you decide to do so, please click on the banner on the bottom of the center blue column of this blog to get a free 14 day Typepad trial.  Yes, I get a commission if you sign up.

I suppose that is my reward for recommending a blog platform that will make your blogging life a little easier --

And safer.

People and Business Systems

The right mix of these two ingredients is how you make social media work for your business.

People

People are arguably the main ingredient of any business.  This includes your customers, employees, vendors, and other partners that help you take care of those customers.  Without the right ones, it is tough to sustain a profitable business.  The right people are vital to the success of any business, and that naturally extends to the social media marketing of your business.

An Extension of Your Business

When you begin to think of social media as an extension of your business, it becomes easier to get the pieces into place to achieve the results you are seeking.   Anyone who has operated a small business for a period of time knows you always get more done with people you agree with in principle.  Talented superstars can make great contributions, but they often have a low tolerance for working with a team.

The Right People

While it may be beneficial to be friends with some of the social media celebrities, and thousands of people you hardly know, I will bet money that you will do more for your business if you focus on regular people like yourself that you can actually work with.  This is your team.

Business Systems

Your Team

While people are responsible for getting results, business systems help get those results consistently.  I love systems, but I learned the hard way that they need to be flexible if they are going to work well for the entire team.

Take an assessment of your most highly valued team members.  Are you running too fast or not leading strongly enough for others?  If your systems are counterproductive to the efforts of your social media network, you may wish to reconsider your approach.

A Social Media Viewpoint

We are still in uncharted waters with social media, a marketing medium that has turned the business world upside down in many ways.   There are many paradoxes associated with this platform.  For this reason, I'm going to suggest you consider looking at it from multiple perspectives before trying the next shiny new technology, as many are characterizing the latest 'gotta have (or do)' in social media.

Just as I would take at least two views of a putt I really needed to sink to win a golf match, I like to look at my social media marketing from a viewpoint that is both with the crowd - and without them.  It is then much easier to choose the best approach for me.

Here's an example.  When Twitter was young and many people thought the whole idea of communicating in short, rapid-fire bursts was bordering on the ridiculous, I was intrigued.  I wondered if they were missing something.  So I gave it a test drive that proved to be extremely productive.   The majority was only looking at it from one angle.

Now is Now

This brings us to today.   We are settling into social media.  We know what a blog is, and if you read my post from yesterday, you have more than enough reasons to blog.  The same goes for the social networks.

The Merge

What's next?  It's time to stop looking at social media like an alien, because it's nothing to be afraid of.  It's time to get up close and take a practical look at what it really is.

An extension of your business that should be treated like all of the other ingredients. 

Thanks to my green industry friend Steve Hoogenakker for the conversation today that inspired this post.

Photo Credit:  emeryc

Small Business Marketing Talk

"If I had known back then what I do now, I never would have started this business."

This is a true statement, and something I used to say from time to time during the 20 years I operated my landscape contracting business. It's something you tend to say when you are experiencing one of the thousands of challenges that are part of the the fabric of small business culture.  

Then there are those times when you pat yourself on the back for doing something incredibly naive that resulted in a success.

I have just as many of those to share with you as I do regrets.  And I am sure you have experienced the same or more with your business.  This is how we learn, and usually by sharing those experiences with our industry peers.  This got me to thinking.

I cannot think of a better forum for sharing tips, insights, and lessons learned than a blog - like this blog! 

Announcing A New Idea

So, I am starting a series to focus on sharing some of these insights:  Small Business Marketing Talk.

I've decided to cast a wider net to include the entire topic of marketing.   Heck, I may even include a few scenarios that pertain to marketing's first cousin, which of course is sales.  And don't be surprised if we have some interviews with other small business, marketing, or social media pros. 

You be the judge.  I'll give this a try.  If it doesn't get a favorable response, I'll consider it another lesson learned and move on.   It certainly won't be my first failure.  Let's just say that I'm steadily gaining on Thomas Edison. ha, ha.

I'm open to suggestions - about everything.  Tell me what you would like to talk about.  Suggest a format.  Recommend a better name for this perennial series.  I'm thinking this may be a great way for me to get back to recording videos again.  Maybe this could be a weekly event.  What do you think?

You know the drill, just leave a comment below.

Taking a Test Drive

As long as you are here, I may as well share something of value on marketing, and more specifically, the topic of social media marketing.

The Name Game

It has been a sport to invent monikers that help us to be edgier, more unique, more professional, and yes, more of an expert while we are strolling through the social media networks.  That was then.  Now is now, and I really believe you will want to discontinue using appended name descriptors such as expert, maven, and guru.  They just don't fit anymore.

These cute little naming tactics do one thing only - they identify you as an amateur or novice.  But Jeff, you say, weren't you the Green Marketing Guru for a while.  Indeed I was, and I have come to regret that hour at Starbucks when my friend talked me into it.  All I can do is learn and move on.

Personal

The social media platform continues to drive a social economy that is more about people than brands.  Your greatest asset, now more than ever, is your name.  I don't care how strange or common your name is, it is what separates you from the herd. 

 
Seth Godin notes in his new book, Linchpin (affiliate link above), that we all have to be more of who we are, and less of who we have been trained, educated, and conditioned to be.  He calls this being an artist.   In my world, I call this being a small business owner.  There is an art to that.

So here's the question: 

What is the name you want attached to your art? 

Photo Credit:  Vasta

How to Be Where People Are Looking

on the Web for companies like yours.

You may be thinking, yes, but that is easier said than done.  Hold that thought, because a "yes, but" mindset is exactly what will get your business found.  Here's how it works.

Think Like Most People

Before you can apply the principles of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to getting found on the Web, you have to first select the broadest term that relates to what you do.  This is your YES.

The more commonly a categorical term is used by a large group of people, the better.  You could call this the Family Feud test.  To get the most points on that show, you have to give the answer that most people will have said yes to.

For example, I'm working with a client who has just published a book with a unique message that pertains to "nutritional health", which is his true category.  What happens when you practice good nutrition?  Among other things, you optimize your weight.  That's why diets or dieting is his best category to get that yes.

What is the result you deliver that most people are looking for?  It has to be a large category that many people will say yes to.  This is the best place to begin positioning your company for maximum visibility. 

Help People See You Are the Right Fit

Obviously, the large categories are crowded.   No worries, because when it comes down to making buying decisions, people will be discerning if you give them some help.  Help them see that you are not just a good fit, but a perfect fit.  This is your hook, and it usually relates to how you do what you do well.

Is your hook speed?  That's a great one if you can make it believable.  Who doesn't want to lose ten pounds in ten days?

My work is focused on entrepreneurs and small businesses.  And as a result of my 20 years of experience in the green industry, I'm an even better fit for those entrepreneurs.  So, if you are looking for marketing help (my big category), and specifically social media marketing (my little category), and you are an entrepreneur (my focus), then we've got a fit.  If you happen to also work in the green industry, we've got a glove-like fit. 

Fear is the Enemy

Many companies are afraid of taking a narrow focus. They are afraid there will not be enough buyers in a niche to sustain their business. So they continue to swim, maybe flail is a better word, in that big category of a  pond with little to show for it.   

Instead, consider what the numbers look like if you could dominate a tight niche. 

The key to making this work is the top down approach.  Many companies start with the niche mindset.  As a result, they can only see so far.  It gives them tunnel vision.

Think like the herd first, and never forget it.  This gives you perspective.  You will always be looking far and wide.  And you will be where you can be easily found by those buyers who have already said yes, but are looking for something just right for them - you.  

To put this another way, if you want to be found on the Web, don't be a but - be a yes, but.

It's a matter of perspective.

Photo Credit: Andy Hay

The Power of Location and Time Search

Space-Time Events

Scientists will tell you that everything can be defined as a "space-time event." It's pretty remarkable really.  Everything can be unequivocally separated from its categorical look-alikes according to the real estate it occupies at a particular point in time - that's it, just two variables!  So, if you can just zoom in on the right place at the right time, you can have exactly what you are looking for.

This concept has not been lost on Google.  Sometime late last year they introduced both real-time search and Local Place Pages for businesses.  If you are searching for a business, such as a restaurant, you can now expect to receive data relevant to both location and time.  Location should be obvious.  Usually, that means close to wherever you are.   Time relates to things like specials or deals that may be here today and gone tomorrow.  This you can schedule for.

An Example

Let's say you are trying to locate a place to celebrate with a group of friends.  You envision a restaurant where you can dress up a little and also get loose and have some fun.  Since your group of friends can be, shall we say,... particular, you decide the perfect restaurant is one that merges Asian and American cuisine, such as sushi and steaks.  If they happen to have a martini special going this evening, even better yet.

Specials happen in the domain of time.  Cuisine tends to be predetermined according to the style or menu of the restaurant.  Depending upon how far you are willing to drive, you can very likely fulfill the criteria of your search.  And if you can't, you simply make a few simple adjustments until you find what works.

Google Place Pages

This apparently unlikely scenario is unfolding everyday for many small businesses.  If you wish to be are one of them, you need to go to Google Local Business and set up your Place Page.  If you happen to own business that sports multiple locations, this information can be uploaded and updated via an excel spreadsheet.  Do you think Google is serious about local search?  You bet they are.

A Category of One

My friend Joe Calloway recently updated a new edition of his book entitled A Category of One.  I'm sure you can infer the concept - own a category and you have eliminated the competition.  It seems Google is willing to allow you to prove you are a category of one.  They will ask you to place your business in predetermined categories so that they know how to place you in their searches, while also creating one of your own.

If you understand Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you know it is best to be included in the most relevant category that fits your business.  In other words, it's always good to be where most people are looking, even if that space may be crowded.  However, Google also gives allows you to create your own category in your Pages profile.  What have you got to lose?  As an example, I noticed there is only one category that starts with "green," which implies there is an opportunity there.

As for me, while I'm clear about my categories, it's the location I'm having trouble with.   I work out of airports, client's offices, and my home.  So, I'm still considering my options.  Don't worry, creativity will kick-in and reign at just the right time.

Until I decide, you can find me right here.

Photo Credit:  Wootam!

Small Business Trends for 2010 - Part 3 of 3

If you are new here, this is the third post in a series.  Here is the leading post on  Small Business Trends for 2010.  And here is the previous, or 2nd post in the series on Collaborative Markets. 

 

Sustainable Communities

Organizations of people are evolving from exclusivity to inclusiveness.  This creates more sustainable communities where members place their trust in each other.

While not fashionable, sustainability generated some critical discussion a couple of decades ago.  Back then the talk was mostly among scientists, those of us within the green industry, and more than a few citizens at large.  What happened?  Well, times were so good for so long that the movement just didn't develop much traction.  Disposable was more accurately the word of the day back then.

Today we are waking up to how our wasteful behaviors have now collided with a devastating economy.  In these unprecedented times, we need to build sustainable communities. And the only way that is going to happen is by working together.

A Community of Communities

We live on one planet, and that means all communities eventually merge into one.

You may only be concerned with what happens in your local community, but you now know that the economic future of your community is highly dependent upon global markets, multiple currencies, the supply and demand for necessary commodities and skilled labor. 

Social media is helping us to understand how our communities overlap  They freely co-mingle resources when that is possible. Your company is a community that merges with other communities that includes industry associations and markets.  This means you are vying for the same resources as other companies.

If you wish to be successful in the future, it's vital to begin thinking about managing your communities for inclusiveness, as opposed to exclusivity.  In times of scarcity, no organization, company, or community can expect to succeed on the merits of exclusivity. 

What's the a logical first step?  Engage more with the communities you depend upon.  Make a list.  It's a list that will continue to grow with more examination.  Here are some suggestions for building engagement with your communities.

Sharing and Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is collaboration with a community group to perform a simple task, usually one that solves a simple problem for the majority of the community.  This is often best accomplished when there is a degree of anonymity. This active participation is almost certain to generate more sustainable solutions.  Why? Because the crowd has ownership in what it helps to create. 

Marketers have traditionally considered themselves to be the experts who processed market information.  Focus groups are the best example of this.  Crowdsourcing is different. It spins that concept around 180 degrees.  It's a new way of thinking that taps into the wisdom of a crowd.  How can you do this?  Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter, online surveys, comments on your blog, and practically every other form of social media.  

Why is this significant?  It's not what you have to say about your products and services that matters most, but what others are saying.

A New Business Model

One of the greatest contributors to the failure of small businesses is the belief that they are mini-corporations.  This is top-down thinking that minimizes inclusiveness, a model that is doomed in our emerging economy. Top-down thinking leads to taking on too much overhead, forgetting that customers want to be engaged, and otherwise assuming a 'one size fits all' mentality.  

Entrepreneurs and small businesses need a business model that is community focused.  They need a model that takes what is working for them now, their personal relationships with people in the community, and extends it.  Social media can do this - because social media is not about more - but better.    

Think about how you can help your communities do more of what they want to do. You can surely discern that they are concerned about the economy?  What else?  Education, health care, safety, communication, and the environment. You decide. 

Most importantly, consider how can you help your community in a way that is congruent with your business mission.

This is all a process, not an event.  Being human-centric, and collaborating with people to build sustainable communities is not that difficult at all.  

It just has to be done. 

Have an outstanding year!

Photo Credit:  Sreejith K

Why I Blog

Because I can.

People often wonder why bloggers continue to ply their craft, regardless of who may be reading.  I've given other excuses, such as the fact that Google is always reading my blogs.  That means that somebody, someday will read them.  But that's not enough to sustain the effort.

And when I say effort, I'm talking about much more than time.  You can crank out a blog in a few minutes.  All you have to do is read a few headlines and give another perspective.  That's nice, and few people will read it.  But that is not enough for me.  My nature is to do what I do well, regardless of who may be reading.

The true motivation comes from the response you get from real people with common interests that connect with your message.  When you make a connection like that, you have communicated.  You have in some way helped someone in your community do what they want to do better.  That's what it is all about. 

Of course, whether you are a new or an experienced blogger, you will have to blog with abandon just to receive a few morsels of encouragement.  And that's OK.  If you have something to say that is of value, you know that those seeds will eventually fall upon fertile soil.  So you bend, shape, and package your message in such a way to potentially engage a few readers.

Is that the goal?  Not at all.  The goal, if you are honest, is thousands of readers!  But you had better be prepared to engage them one at a time.  That's how this works.  You plant seeds, you watch over them, scaring away the birds and rodents until those seeds bear fruit. It's simple enough, but it takes patience.

In order to develop that patience, here are a few other reasons to blog.

Find Your Voice

You don't realize how poorly you communicate until you really start to measure it.  That measurement comes in the form of a message that feels right.  It's you. The more you practice, the more skillful you get. If you need some role models, look to any well-known presenter.  My business finds me presenting to green industry professionals at least 50% of the time.  Recently my friend Al Lautenslager sent me a video of George Carlin giving his perspective on Saving the Planet.  You may not agree with George's style or language, but his skill in delivering his message is truly amazing.  It takes a lifetime to develop your voice.  So, you may as well get started now.

Create a Forum for Engagement

A few weeks ago I created a series of posts about my project to write a book within two weeks.  I proceeded to burn through the first week by reorganizing my material.  Yet, when I finally hit the ground running, I wrote half of that book in the second week.  This proved the validity of my thesis.  More importantly, I engaged with many friends who gave me their tips and advice.  And that made the effort incredibly valuable and worthwhile.

Differentiate Your Business

Your market, your customers, only know what they know.  It is your job to communicate what is unique about your business.  How do you do things differently that makes a difference?  These days the bar is set high.  Quality is expected.  Your customers need to be reminded, again and again, why they should be doing business with you.  They need a reason to continue their relationship with you.  Often this has little to do with what you do, but how you do it.  It has a lot to do with who you are on a personal level.  Pull back the curtain and give them a show they will remember.

Fan the Flames

Have you ever felt you were at the right place at the right time?  This is what marketing is all about.  It's reminding your customers that they have made the right decision to do business with you. Give them evidence.  Make them feel great.  That's what people want.  It's simple.  And that is why it works.

Own Your Ideas

This week I presented some new material on green industry trends to a group of industry leaders.  Any speaker knows the most important aspect of any presentation is the first few minutes where you set the stage.  I had worked on those few minutes for weeks. I had the idea in my mind, but how to present it best kept changing.  That's when I determined how I could best create a tight, well-written opening.  I needed to blog about it to really own it. I knew when I was done with that I could comfortably stand in front of those industry leaders and say what needed to be said.

As a professional speaker, that is what I do.

And I do it because I can. That's why I love what I do, and why I keep doing it.

How about you?

Photo Credit:  Fellowship of The Rich

Small Business Trends for 2010

The Trends in a Nutshell

No. 1:  Human-Centric Businesses

Business used to be about companies.  Now its about people.

No. 2:  Collaborative Markets 

Markets are no longer about selling to buyers, but collaborating with them to develop better and more sustainable solutions.

No. 3:  Sustainable Communities

Organizations of people are evolving from exclusivity to inclusiveness.  This creates more sustainable communities where members place their trust in each other.

What do you see for your business?

The Evolution of this Perfect Storm

All of these trends are simultaneously converging to create a perfect storm of opportunity for businesses, especially small or entrepreneurial business that are characterized as having personal relationships with customers.

If you go back to the late '50's and early '60's, there was an emerging technology that changed the world of marketing.  That technology was television.  In the midst of an expanding post-World War II economy, middle class consumers embraced television.  Television had reach.  People had discretionary income.  And all of this created a new era of consumerism that helped make many brands household names.  

Television was a marketing technology that made everything more expansive by bringing it to a larger stage, and that fit perfectly with the growing economy.  What followed was a love affair with the automobile, highly stylized fashions, and countless consumer products guaranteed to make your life a dream!  Those companies were at the right place at the right time to capitalize on the converging trends of the day. Needless to say, some of those industries and companies are faltering today.

Human-Centric Business is Local

If you are an entrepreneur, YOU are now at the right place at the right time.

The technology that is transforming the business environment in your favor is social media marketing. It is giving everyone a voice at a period when people have gone through some tough experiences.  They want to move forward, but it is still uncertain where this economy is going.  Until that happens, they are looking for people to trust.  This means they are going to be doing business in their local communities.

This is why every Fortune 500 corporation has a presence on social media.  They know that business is going local.  They are seeing how social media is leveling the playing field to create equal opportunities for every company. In a nutshell, they want to be more like you.

Your challenge is to be who you are, a human-centric business that is willing to reach out even further than you already have.  Social media is a tool that is ideally suited for that, and most significantly, it's influence is sustainable.

What's the next step?  Collaboration. 

This morning I am presenting these trends to a group of green industry CEO's here in AL.  I'm sure our collaborative time together will generate rich insights.  I look forward to sharing them with you on parts 2 and 3 of this series.

Until then, leave a comment and tell me what you are seeing?

Do You Trust Advertising or Friends?

What's the first thing you do when you see an interesting ad?

You call a friend to see if they will validate the product or service.  We have always looked to our friends to get their opinions because we know their frame of reference and we trust them.  With the advent of social media this inquiry is more easily accomplished than ever. 

Why then would anyone consider advertising?  Awareness is what comes to my mind.  Advertising is a suggestion to get or keep the buying process moving.  I seriously doubt in these times it results in a stand alone sale, unless of course the price point is so low that there is very little risk.  Or possibly if the purchase is one where, shall we say, getting a friend's opinion may be a bit awkward!

Our personal experiences and those of our friends are shaping new business models that are sure to include the most valuable advertising there is: the wisdom of friends.  If you are a business owner, you need real friends who can validate the value you bring to the marketplace.  I'm talking real friends here, no t the fake friends that you may be frantically collecting on Twitter. 

A few years ago I spoke to Caterpillar dealers at their Superbowl celebration in Orlando, an experience that I enjoyed immensely.  It is always a pleasure to be with a group of professionals who are genuinely interested in learning. There were dealers from across the country who converged to share best practices and learn how to connect with new markets.  One of those markets being the green industry that I was there to represent with my twenty years of experience. 

As I said, it was several years ago, long before social media had really found its legs.  The news I shared with them was the green industry is a market in excess of 50 billion dollars, yet a very fragmented one.  This is typical of most industries that are dominated by smaller, entrepreneurial businesses. 

If I were speaking to them today, I would strongly encourage strategic marketing initiatives for engaging with those entrepreneurs through the social media networks.  I would suggest a combination of advertising for awareness with a healthy component of engagement to get to know one business owner at at time.

That's how we share information. We all talk.  We trade notes.  And we value each others opinions because we know our friends understand how to get things done in the trenches just as we do.

I don't think advertising is dead by any means.

It just needs to be, hmm..friendlier.

Photo Credit: RoadsidePictures

Social Media is a Waste of Time? - Patience My Friends

Do you believe social media is a waste of time for growing your business?   I often hear this when speaking to audiences. Today virtually everyone is aware of social media, and they are using it to get results, but only a few can honestly say it is working for them. Why do they feel this way?  I believe it is a combination of expectations and patience.

A green industry friend recently made the off-hand comment that social media wasn't necessarily helping his business, but that he is pleased to be learning more about his colleagues, employees, and customers - specifically the interesting happenings involving their uniquely personal lives.  As soon as he said that, he realized that social media was proving to be a valuable tool for giving him new perspectives with which to build stronger relationships. Indeed, this is exactly one of the benefits of using this tool.

Now that the leaves are beginning to fall here in the Midwest, you could also say it a waste of time to clean them up with a shovel, a tool that is intended for other purposes.  It sure is, especially if there is a rake or a leaf blower available.  Even that rake may not be the right tool if its a windy day.  You see, there are variables in everything we do.  Just as with those leaves, when using your social media tools you need to step back and have the patience to evaluate what you are trying to do, how you are trying to do it, and whether or not the time is appropriate. 

If you are using Twitter to build close friendships, it probably isn't going to happen.  But it can be a start.  This is how I met Chris Heiler within the Twitter stream when we discovered we had something in common; we are both green industry leaders.  After a few casual conversations off the social networks that served to build trust, we partnered on a couple of joint ventures that have been profitable for both of us.  We're not talking a lot of money here, but then I've enjoyed the process and have made a friend too.  It just took a little patience.

Anyone that plays golf knows the tools of that game seem to be the most ill-equipped for the desired results, until you learn how to use them.  Though if you are willing to invest some time, you will occasionally experience those rare moments when you hit a long iron stiff to the pin. It is then that they seem to be the most beautiful implements you have ever held in your hands!  You may only understand this if you have played the game, endured the challenges, practiced, and extended more patience than most of us care to admit to.  This is not just a metaphor, but also a challenge for learning what is possible with your social media efforts. 

There aren't many magic bullets in life.  The successful know it comes down to hard work, persistence, patience, and especially learning the finer details of your craft.  That's what I love about social media.  There is a natural, organic quality about this medium that challenges you to keep studying and adapting to the changes as you progress.  Trust me on this, it definitely keeps changing, and that is guaranteed to continue!

Give social media a chance, learn to develop perspective, and above all, be patient - and you will get results that will keep you coming back again.  Why do you think golfers keep teeing it up week after week?  It is for the hope of repeating those glorious moments that make the endeavor worthwhile. You have to experience it for yourself to know it is worth it.

Since blogging is the cornerstone of your social media presence, here is a link to an earlier post that may help to shorten your learning curve for Writing for Blog Posts and Social Media. Give it a try, have some patience, and I guarantee you will find your way for getting what you want.

Photo Credit:  WasabiDoobie 

Social Media Greatest Hits - Live!

Live albums were unique to the seventies when rock artistry was arguably at its peak.  These recorded, live performances were the opportunity for musicians to go deeper and push the limits that indulged the audience with the finest qualities of their craft. 

I'm no Peter Frampton, and certainly not Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix.  Though, I am a fan and have been know to mention them from time to time in my writing.   We are alike in the sense that I will occasionally go deeper with my content, typically by taking these posts and transforming them further into articles, which later this year will become chapters in my new book.

Photo Credit:  Pink

Here is a sample of some of those articles where I've discovered additional layers of clarity and color that may be helpful to your use of new media in your business.

I write for a number of publications.  However, just to keep this simple, these are all recent articles from GIE Media's Lawn and Landscape online magazine.   They are generally directed to green industry professionals, but no doubt applicable to most entrepreneurial businesses.

Here is the column we just posted this week:

Using Video to Promote Your Green Industry Business.

Here are some of the earlier columns on social media and Web 2.0 marketing - predominantly for green industry professionals, but certainly applicable to most entrepreneurs and small business owners and  marketers. 

Social Media Marketing to Grow Your Business

How Social Media is Changing the Face of Marketing

Social Media Marketing Basics for Landscape Professionals

Using Social Media to Be a Relevant Force in the New Economy

3 Essential Layers of Protection for the Social Media Storm

Selling in the Web 2.0 Marketplace

What inspires you to go deeper and push the limits of your craft?

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How to Separate Social Media Pros from Novices

If you are a regular reader of this blog you know that social media visibility is merely a stepping stone to your business goals.  As experienced businesspeople, the pros understand this - the novices don't.   Novices tend to scratch the surface, and that behavior is even more apparent on this social media platform.

If you are a novice, that's fine.  We've all been there, and to some extent, we are all novices when it comes to social media because it keeps changing daily.  Just take your time and study the pros.  Learn from them and use what works.   Build your own best practices.  Here are three approaches to consider that will keep you moving in the right direction.

Redefine Expectations by Doing What's Common in Uncommon Ways

Last week President Obama held a "Beer Summit," at least that's what the media called this little get together to smooth out some minor differences between Harvard professor Henry Gates and James Crowley, the officer who arrested him.   Who would have guessed that the origin and type of beer would overshadow the nature of the conversation?

Having a beer is not necessarily a presidential thing to do, which is exactly why Obama did it.  Having a beer is what regular people do.  It's a ritual of sorts.  It suggests Obama is a regular guy, just like you.  It wasn't about the beer, but what the beer symbolized to working class people.

Consider how you can use social media in a way that is unexpected.  It may be as simple as doing the common in uncommon ways, something President Obama seems to have a knack for (see previous post).  This time, instead of simply calling a meeting at the White House, he got together with people - outside, in the Rose Garden, on plastic chairs, with his sleeves rolled up and a few cool ones on the table - just like a regular guy.

Use Details to Make Your Social Media Come Alive

There is nothing like detail to make your social media come alive.  If you are looking to make a connection, the phrase 'chocolate brown' is so much more effective than just brown.  We can taste chocolate - it is a modifier that makes that color come alive.  Be careful though, a novice will describe everything in too much detail. Just enhance what is most relevant to your message (see previous post on writing for blogs).

How do the pros use detail?  One way is to learn from professional humorists.  Here's an example:  A green industry friend (not a pro humorist) recently posted his status on Facebook -"Scott is on Lake Minnetonka."  To that he received a response - "Let me know if you see Prince there!"  This was a simple statement that led to a humorous engagement with another friend due entirely to the specificity of a particular place and and its strong association with the musician Prince.  Scott didn't say he was in Minnesota, or on a lake, he was specific - and that gave us a clear, mental picture of my friend in the middle of the woods looking for Prince!

Tell it Like it Is To Be Believable

When I was applying for my first business loan I was told to forecast revenue growth at 10% each year because that's what the lenders expected - consistent and believable results.  I should have told them this: 50% growth the first year, followed by 30%, then 17% growth, and then a decline of 4% before returning to double digit growth again - because that's exactly what happened!   Anyone with real business experience knows there are cycles, learning curves, and unexpected circumstances.  Tell it like it is if you want to be believed.

If you wish to be a pro, being believable may be as simple as following the old adages - "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."  Novices sensationalize.  Social media pros keep it real and authentic, because they know that's what comes through loud and clear on the social media networks.   

You can expect the social media networks to get more cluttered with novices as the platform gains wider acceptance.  Follow these simple steps and you'll be able take your everyday experiences and use them to grow your business.  There is another old saying - "Fake it 'till you make it." Please, don't do that, there is already too much of that.  Be a pro - learn to use what's common in uncommon ways, spice things up with juicy details, and tell it like it is.  It's that simple.

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Why You Need A Social Media Ritual

Rituals have been used for centuries to for a variety of purposes.  They have been used to celebrate new beginnings, such as a marriage, to mark an auspicious occasion and bring good luck, such as a ribbon cutting that commemorates the grand opening of a new business, and also to remember a passing, such as a funeral.  It was while attending an event this week at Arlington National Cemetery, a place where there are far too many funerals, that I got to thinking about rituals and how they change our thinking for the better.

The event is called Renewal and Remembrance and is sponsored by PLANET - The Professional Landcare Network, an association of green industry professionals.   It is an honor to participate in this event, which is a convergence of a hundred or so people who have taken time away from their businesses and summer vacations to enhance the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery with with new plantings, while also caring for the existing trees and turf. By the way, you can learn more about the PLANET event from a post I made a couple days ago on the PLANET blog.

This PLANET event itself has become an annual ritual which is surrounded by other rituals such as wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  These rituals universally serve the purpose of capturing your attention.  As a result, you achieve greater clarity of thought, and that is followed by the capacity for executing an activity with precision.  Our fast-paced society has mostly done away with rituals, which may explain why some of us get stressed out in our effort to achieve higher quality results in our work.  Here are some considerations for using rituals in one aspect of your work -your social media efforts.  Yet, they can be used to boost your results in any number of disciplines. 

Step 1:  Take the Time to Take the Focus Off Yourself

Do you celebrate every day when you wake up?  You should - and while you are at it take the time to mentally thank one person for the contribution they make to your life.  This is a simple ritual that demonstrates the power of rituals lies in taking your focus off the person you spend most of your time thinking about - you!  When you do this, you free your mind of all those things that get in the way of ability to focus on what matters most - serving others with your talents and abilities.

Step 2:  Implement Your Intended Purpose with Authority

Golfers are known to have a pre-shot routine they follow with precision before every shot.  They execute this routine with authority and the precision of a drill sergeant to achieve a perfect result.  If anything distracts them from that routine, they simply start over at the beginning.  That routine is everything because it sets up the result.  It also sets up the body to achieve success when it is followed by a focused mind.

Step 3:  Engage with Liked Minded People

One of the secrets of getting things done well is to engage with people that believe in themselves, in you, and in your combined efforts.  Have you ever wondered why the most talented teams are not always the most successful?  Emotional feelings engage the minds and the bodies of the group so that they can cohesively achieve a desired result.  You can call this teamwork, camaraderie, or culture.  It doesn't matter what you call it, it works. 

When you engage in a positive routine or ritual it literally changes your thought patterns. Here's an example from the social media networks.  The #followfriday ritual on Twitter is one example of taking the time to take the focus off you to appreciate the contribution of just one member of your networks.  It takes a moment of thought and involves a few simple keystrokes of execution, which in turn engages with the networks to connect like-minded friends, fans, and customers.

Scientists have conclusively explained how this works.  There is something called brain-wave coherence that raises human potential to a new level.  First, there is coherence between your left and right brain hemispheres that allows you to function at your best.  The extension of that is the coherence between the brains of a group of people through those electromagnetic brain waves.   Pretty cool stuff when you think about it, and how it can help you in many aspects of your life, including your business.  And all you have to do is take a little extra time to get out of your own way, be clear of your intended purpose and execute it well, and whenever possible, do it in a spirit of cooperation with others.

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Is Social the Currency of Success for Entrepreneurs in the New Economy?

I had the pleasure of meeting many new friends while speaking at my alma mater Miami University this past week.  As they say, you can't step into the same river twice.  Yes, Miami has changed significantly for the better since I was a student there in the late '70's and early '80's. This time around I was as much an an observer as a participant.  After grabbing a Starbucks in King Library before my Thursday meeting I rode the elevator with several students.  One in particular commented on the peace symbol around her neck.  "I'm really into peace signs", she commented to the others.  Are the seventies coming back?  Maybe.  This observation reminded me of an experience the day prior when I worked with groups of Marketing students.  One student apologized for interrupting another.  These are college students - and so respectful of each other!  That refreshing social consciousness is a glimpse of what the seventies tried to be, until everything fell apart, possibly from the numerous excesses that characterized that period in time.  Hmm....

Of the many conversations I had this week, ranging from green marketing to social media marketing, one in particular stands out.   It was a chat with Professor Brett Smith, a leader in Miami's emerging Social Entrepreneurship program.  It's exciting to discover students are embracing not just business, but the social culture of business within a global community.  More importantly, it was exciting to learn from Brett that major corporations are taking notice.  They understand there is a continuum of potential business models that extends from pure social to purely business.  Profit and  and social inclusiveness seem to be finding their respective places with equal authority.  Maybe some of our idealism of the '70's is finally bearing fruit. 

The economy today it troubled indeed.  And the only way out of a bad deal is to change how the game is played.  Clearly, a sole profit motive is ringing a hollow chord with young professionals.  Social media may well find a place as a valid system for connecting communities around the globe - for the better of everyone concerned.  It used to be profit first and community second.  The new model moving forward may flip that upside down to have social needs driving profits.  This means there is no such things as green-washing, and that's music to my ears.  Efforts to be more environmentally friendly can drive profits when all of the costs of running a business are accounted for - both immediate and long-term. 

Is your business active in supporting a cause that is congruent with the community you know as the market for your products and services?  If so, you have already discovered good business is responsible business.

Commerce is a forum that engages social beings for sharing what supports the community - and goods and services happen to fall into that value-laden basket.  Supporting a community in a comprehensive way could prove to be a valid strategy for sustainable growth and profits.  It's a model of providing value first where it is needed most.  You can't expect to start with a "me" attitude anymore.  Giving first to build value is arguably a strategy for building successful commercial ventures.

The coming months may see a glimpse of the validity of this model in a place we know as Washington.  Entrepreneurs have seen it work in their communities.  And the transparency of social media is bringing it to the forefront - creating partnerships that can scale this model across diverse communities.  You don't have to be a Maslow disciple to understand how to win this game.

As a final note, I rooted hard for Miami to win the National Hockey Championship finale, which they lost by a whisper.  Congrulations BU - we'll see ya next year!   

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How to Strategically Amplify Your Message with Social Media

You cannot hide who you are.  That has been true for the history of humanity.  Though, there are some people that like to hide.  Social media is changing that.  It does this by doing what it does best - amplifying who you really are.  Your values, personality, and actions are all magnified, amplified, and scrutinized through the lens of social media.  You may not be directly plugged into social media, but it has a way of finding you.  If you don't believe me, do a search on Google, not just for your name, but for your kids too.  You'll find results for their sports activities, club meetings, and just about anything else that is considered news.  This information is finding its way to the Web with lightning speed.  There just aren't many filters to slow it down.  Naturally, some like this visibility and some don't.  For those of us who use the Internet to bask in the glow of the spotlight, a new term has been created - "web celebrity."  It made me laugh when I first heard this term from David Armano.  He's an interesting guy who helps companies build and polish their brands, and recently spoke at the Chicago Social Media Club. 

A great deal of my work is helping organizations build communities of customers using social media and Internet marketing.  Many of these are green industry companies that have to be sure their companies are following green practices to the highest level possible.  I recently spoke with Dick Bare of Arbor-Nomics in Atlanta who is looking forward to using social media to put a spotlight on what he considers to be the first class practices of his production teams.  He gets it.  He understands you can't hide, and if so, you may as well seek the spotlight because its going to find you anyway. 

How to Make a Video Blog Post that Communicates

CONNECT 

You want to get your business message out in a multi-media format so that it will be both read and watched, or at the very least, listened to.  If you are lucky, you'll get all three.  You see, you have no control over the environment of your audience with online media.  They may be watching your video attentively.  They may only be listening to your video while checking emails.  Or they may be scanning the text for the high points to see if it's worth reading or watching at all.

Take whatever you can get!  Any connection is better than none at all.  For this reason, keep your message tight.  Too many extraneous details, too much selling of your stuff, and too much too much - i.e. too long - all will get you tuned out, whether the format is text or video.  Here's a simple tip:  The faster your text can be read or your video watched, the more credible you will be.  You have to get to the point and start communicating in the first few seconds - or less.  For tips on writing the text that accompanies your video, please refer to the previous post of this blog.  Here's the link. 

COMMUNICATE

One of the things that prevent most folks from communicating in any format is the desire to make it perfect.  The harder you try to do that, the more likely you are to fail.  Fancy words don't impress.    For more, see this post from Sonia Simone at Copyblogger.

If fancy words don't impress, than the same is true of video.  Puhleeeze!  You don't need fancy fade-ins and music and wild animation.  Whatever enhances your message is what is going to work.   An example is a banner that shows the correct spelling of your name, the location from where you are shooting your video, or possibly your website.  Trying too hard tells the audience you are trying to be someone you are not.  If that happens, you've failed to connect, and therefore, failed to communicate.

 Here's my simple process for creating a video blog post.

1.  Write your blog post.

2.  Rehearse - Read it aloud as if you were recording.

3.  Set up your camera.  I use the Flip Mino.  Test to get the framing right. 

4.  Shoot the first 30 seconds a few times to make it tight.

5.  Roll camera.  Shoot all the way through.  Check the time.  Do it again - shorter and better.

My gut feeling is having a video that is a little "raw" and unpolished is BETTER than one that is too slick.  It's the same reason blogs are more credible than websites.  Just follow the above steps and get going so you are comfortable with the message - and loose with the delivery.  Watching your video should be like watching a great sportscast.  Nobody is reading from a script.  However, they are using their energy and the excitement of the game to carry the broadcast through.  Yes, you have to make your business message exciting.  And yes, that is part of the game of video blogging.

Now for some tips on technique.

1. Keep your eyes on the camera.  Don't use notes.
2. Wear solid shirts instead of stripes.
   
3. Lean into the camera, tilting your head forward. 
4. Keep going.  The next words will come to you.
5. Smile.

COMMUNITY

Your goal with any kind of blogging is to build community.  This is a powerful way to grow a fan base over time if you consistently make solid posts.  It will complement the other marketing you are already doing, and even make it better.  You'll have to develop your own style - and you will.  When I look back at my older video blog posts, I just cringe.  Even what I did just a few weeks ago I'd like to throw out, but I won't, because it probably still has value to somebody.  All you can do is get out there, get started, and keep going and getting better over time.  Deliver a message of value and you'll connect, communicate, and build a community of followers that will help you to grow your business. 

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Internet Marketing - Does it Work? Prove it!

I recently presented a program on Internet Marketing at an executive retreat in Alabama for a select group of Green Industry leaders from across the country.  These executives of mid-sized companies are  interested in results, so they asked some challenging questions.  Most of those questions can be distilled down to one:  Does this Internet Marketing stuff really work?  If so, prove it. 

O.K. fair enough.  Let's start with a simple model of how this works in any business environment, and specifically why NOW is one of the best times for putting it into action.  Get a image in your mind of three concentric circles - just like the rings you see in the cross section of a tree that has been cut down.  The first ring in the middle is you, the leader of your company.  This is where everything starts - and usually with the most vigor, just like that tree.  The second ring is the business itself.  It reflects the strength of the leader - you again.  Then there is the third ring, the fourth ring, and so on.  These all represent the business environment, and the many factors that wrap around the business and contribute to its success - or failure.  These include every type of selling and marketing you do, as well as every influence in the marketplace that may work for you or against you.   

We all know the business environment is pitiful right now.  This is exactly why the business itself has to be stronger than ever to sustain the entire system, and that means marketing!  The marketplace only knows what you tell it or what it learns on its own.  If you make yourself and your business more visible in positive ways,  that makes your business stronger in the market.  Right now the market is looking for hope.  What little the market can give back now, it will do so to those businesses that are working harder.  The market wants to and needs to get itself back on track.  This is exactly what Internet Marketing can do.  Prove it? 

In the case of my own business - which is professional speaking and consulting, I've received two inquiries for consulting work this week as a result of my YouTube videos.  I'm now working on translating those leads into sales.  Also, I am presently being considered for a speaking engagement in March as a result of my presence on Twitter.  So, that lead is progressing well.  This all happened in the last 10 days.  I'm not bragging on myself, just making myself an example.  

Here's how I did it.  I have consistently invested time into blogging, specifically video blogging, and Internet Marketing with Social Media.  This is making me more visible, it's making me stronger because I'm getting better at using those media to clearly differentiate myself and company.  Going back to our tree metaphor, I'm making the whole system - the whole tree - more vigorous in a tough economy.  The speaking industry is like every other, there is less work to go around and everyone is working harder to get enough to sustain their business.  Now is the time give your business environment what is wants - a positive, hopeful message of the value your company brings to it.  You don't have to spend a lot of money to do this - but you have to prove it!  You have to remind that market what it may know, that your company brings unique value to it.  You can do this in a number of ways, with Internet Marketing being one of many rings that wraps around your business to make it succeed!

Twitter - Organic Marketing in a Global Environment

Many of my friends, especially those in the green industry, just don't understand Twitter.  There is hope, however, because they have at least heard about Twitter and are curious about it.  This suggests its just a matter of time until everyone starts micro-blogging with platforms like Twitter.  Outside of my circle of professional speaker and social media marketing friends, most people I know aren't even blogging yet.  Since that's where I got my feet wet like so many of you, Tweeting seems to be a ways off for most people.  Or is it?

Twitter has evolved dramatically since it's inception just a couple of years ago.  This alone is making it more attractive to those that are getting to Social Media Marketing a little late in the game.  Why?  Because it's less time consuming and complicated than traditional blogging and social media marketing.  I personally believe you need both, because all of these platforms have their limitations.   However, as we all know, a little bit of Internet community building is better for your business than none at all.   The only trick to this is understanding what you are doing and why.  The key to using Twitter is to understand that you have to build relationships by purposefully connecting with people in a social manner, and you have to let it all build and grow organically.  

What do I mean by organic growth?  You are putting a message out there and hoping it will travel and land in some fertile places and grow.  In other words, you can't control it, unless you are God.  This is in contrast to other platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Naymz, and of course your personal or company blog where you have more control over the delivery of the message.  Can you use Twitter as a stand along platform?  I don't see why not.  If Twitter gets on the ball and starts adding applications, they could really help make this a more robust platform that grows organically. 

Sure, you can try to control the delivery of a Twitter message, but that goes against the philosophy.  It's like fertilizing just a little because you are afraid you might be fertilizing the weeds too.  Hey, you are going to get a few weeds in every harvest.  That's a fact of life.  That should not stop you from using Twitter to build a community of relationships by connecting with as many people as possible - with some discretion, of course - and the understanding that your good intentions will attract the right people who resonate with you and your message.  Simple enough, isn't it?

Here's the key.  We are living in a global community.  You are naturally most interested in what happens right in your own back yard - a back yard that happens to ultimately be connected with every other community by the simple fact that we live on one planet.  What happens in your community touches my community in some way.  The only way we are going to figure out exactly how is to connect on Twitter.  So, follow me on Twitter.  Here's the link to my Twitter profile:  http://twitter.com/jeffkorhan

While we are at it, we can talk about sustainable methods of saving that planet that connects us.

 

Sustainability - This Black Box is Green

The present state of the green trend is quickly approaching a point that is much like that of the computer revolution in the 1970's.  Computers were a thing of curiosity when they began surfacing in schools at that time.  The computer was a black box - something most of us didn't understand.  Fat decks of cards were necessary to perform even the most basic functions.  Most of us didn't see the need to invest hours into a task on a computer that could be completed more quickly in other ways.  Even when "personal computers" were more mainstream, it was still easier to complete a proposal on a typewriter, as opposed to investing hours of frustration to do so on a PC.  One reason was back then we didn't have such features as autosave.  One bad keystroke and you just lost the whole page - forever!  How many of us wanted to throw our PC out the window back then?!

Guess what? It wasn't long before everything reached a threshold that threw open the floodgates to a phenomenon that today will not be stopped.  We have no idea where it lead us, and that is part of the excitement that feeds more applications at an insane pace.   This is exactly what is is going to happen with the green trend.  We are going to transcend apathy and misinformation.  We're going to take this black box we call the environment and bring it to the forefront.  It's interesting that technology - that previous trend - is exactly what will make all of this possible.  I'm not just talking about the Internet, but also blogs, microblogs and social media.  These platforms are giving all of us a voice.  Is your voice being heard?

We are in a time where every problem is everybody else's problem.  Let's face it, the financial crisis is worldwide.  Currency devaluations and real estate crashes are being felt across the globe - just as the effects of critical environment issues will be.  We just don't know when we'll reach that critical mass that will make it a true global issue.  It may start with a shortage of clean water.  We already know the aquifers in the United States are dropping at an alarming rate.  And water shortages in other parts of the world are imminent too.  The question is what should we be doing now?  Lets hope we don't have to resort to solutions like NASA's effort to perfect purifying "human processed water" in order to get potable drinking water!  I don't know about you, but this kind of talk is making the "futuristic" 1973 film Soylent Green, which starred Charleton Heston, not nearly as laughable as it used to be.

As a businessman, and one that works in the green industry, I know this is a time for me to get involved in dialogue with other leaders to accelerate a shift in thinking that will create the necessary transformation to bring resources to bear on an issue that is vital to everyone's prosperity, though possibly even more relevant to those of us in the green industry.  

The train is leaving the station.  If you think a sustainable environment is not critical to the success of your business, you are right - It probably isn't today.  Not now, anyway.  So, you can just, well.. "keep using that typewriter"...until we all figure out this green box.  Things will change soon.  When they do the customers you ignored because you weren't on top of this issue may have begun aligning themselves with competitors that are leading the discussion, instead of safely following the herd.  Not that there is anything wrong with following the herd.  It's just that you don't have much room to maneuver when it starts to run.  In a tight economy this can be a problem.  You may have missed the computer revolution, so why not make sure this opporunity doesn't pass you by.  It just seems like good business working together with leaders that are taking action. 

Sure, the green trend is tough to get our arms around.  It's like a black box; there is so much we don't understand.  Maybe, just maybe, you build a more economically sound business by helping find solutions for a sustainable environment.  It's not likely you'll be the next Gates or Jobs, but at the very least, you'll be helping the people that depend on the success of your business. All it takes is a grass roots effort - right there in your own community.

Planet in Peril? The Right Way is Green

It has been said that there are only two things people want out of life - they want to be happy and they want to be successful.  While this is a generalization, and with all due respect to Abraham Maslow,  we can agree this just about covers it.  Your definition of happiness and success are individually yours, as they should be.  If we all saw this the same way, there might not be enough of what we want to go around for all of us! Seriously, here's my simple definition:  I want money in my pocket, a smile on my face, and time to enjoy life with friends and family.  I find keeping it simple keeps it all in balance.

This leads me to explaining what happiness and success have to do with the planet  - with our environment?  Two things.  First, its difficult to be happy, and as a result - successful, if you are in a bad environment.  See my earlier post:   Environment Shapes Successful Behavior.  Second:  Success in one area tends to breed success in another.  Winners just seem to keep winning because they learn to apply lessons from one success to a challenge in a new area.  This is one reason why I was so pleased to hear Senator and now President-Elect Obama acknowledge our "planet in peril" as a pressing issue to address in his acceptance speech Tuesday night.   Why?  Because saving our planet is vital, not just for the sake of the planet, but for the lessons we'll take from the effort.  You don't have to be a tree-hugger to want to save the environment.  Just do it for the selfish reason that it contributes to your success and happiness, and because what we learn by working together on this global issue will help us in other areas.  That's the big payoff.  What we learn may even help our struggling economy!

If you go back and read my post from this summer on Environment Shapes Successful Behavior, you'll get a glimpse of how Bill Strickland used his understanding of how the environment shapes behavior to help inner-city kids.   He used this understanding to make these kids a success.  He solved a problem with a basic piece of information, and he solved an important problem  - the problem was education.  Now he's taking his model nationwide. Bill Strickland discovered that bright, quality light is key to learning.  So he built a school with that principle as a vital consideration.  Maybe he knew about the Hawthorne Effect, which essentially says that people respond not just to the light, but to the idea that someone cares about the light.

If you consider what makes you feel alive - invigorated, energetic, and motivated, you may wonder about the significance of other qualities of nature, and what their contribution may have for all of us.  I'm talking about fresh air (which breathes and circulates), clean water (which flows),  and most importantly, people (who do all kinds of crazy things)! That's right, people are part of nature.  We are integral to this planet, just as the basic elements of nature are.  It seems to reason then that learning about making our planet a healthier place will have a payoff for people.  And that means something for us business owners.  Where can we pick up from where Bill Strickland left off? 

Well, what challenges do you have in your business that involve people?  Do I really have to answer that one?  I bet most of them.  One example that many larger organizations are faced with, and one that I'm giving some thought to lately, is diversity.  The reason for this is next month I'll be speaking to several hundred parents and students on this very topic.  So why is Jeff, a green industry expert speaking on diversity?   Simple, diversity is obviously about people - and you can understand a lot about people when you understand the environment.  Also, it just so happens that my 20 years of work with the environment were with a diverse workforce.  We all learned to serve our customers and get what we wanted out of that work; and believe me, their were very different things we all wanted.  Besides, if you are serious about learning more about diversity, you certainly ought to be welcoming different perspectives.  So, I'm excited that they have the foresight to be doing exactly.  I'm looking forward to learning from our dialogue, and I'm sure I'll let you know how it works out. Planet in peril?  Only if we ignore it - and the people in it.

 

Face-to-Face or Facebook? How to Shape Your Business Growth

"I don't believe in that Facebook stuff.  I do business face-to-face."  That was a comment from an audience member last week in Louisville, Kentucky where I spoke to about 250 green industry professionals.  One program I presented was on blogging and social media marketing, something I'm very passionate about.  Why?  Because blogging and social media marketing can get the phone ringing now - in this tight economy.  Needless to say, my friend in the audience got me to thinking about how and why to use Facebook when you are a face-to-face guy.

Yesterday was Halloween.  My 16 year old son dressed up as a pirate for the party he was going to.  On his way out, he answered the doorbell and greeted the trick or treaters.  One cute little girl said, "Oooh...you're a pirate!"  Zak said, "That's right, and if you better watch out or I'll make you walk the plank."  She ran off screaming with delight!  It's so real to them, isn't it?  Maybe that's what we need to do with social media marketing.  Get involved with it and learn to make it just as real as face-to-face.

Look, 20 years ago when I started my landscape business we were off at the crack of dawn and we finished at sunset.  Then we'd pull the trucks together and enjoy some nice conversation and maybe a couple of beers.  Guess what?  Those days are gone.  For one thing, most of us don't have the time.  Heck, our kids have just as many responsibilities as we do.  Also, our society has changed dramatically too.  Having a couple of beers before heading home just isn't in the cards anymore.  The risk is just too high.  It's the same with our customers too.  The stakes have gone up.  Attracting and keeping customers is even more important than it used to be because everyone's time is so precious.  The value of having a face-to-face meeting with a prospect or customer is now huge.  It's an honor to not take lightly.

I have been trying to reach one of my best customers for weeks.  So, you can imagine my delight of running into her at the grocery store yesterday.  We chatted about a number of things, but mostly the upcoming election.  She acknowledged my emails and calls and agreed to get back to me after Tuesday.  The best part about this chance encounter is because we are connected on Facebook, we were able to pick up our conversation like we had just talked yesterday, when in fact it has been months.

Have you seen the movie Sliding Doors, which starred Gwyneth Paltrow?  It's a film that demonstrates how just a few seconds can create a chance encounter that could change your life.  It's a film that gets us asking those  'what if' questions.  So, I ask you, what if you could take a few minutes a day to connect - to enhance your relationship with everyone that is significant in your life?  Is it worth it?  I know that I can use blogging and social media marketing to to shape things in my life so they are more favorable for me and my business.  And in the grand scheme of things, I also know those seconds or minutes will accumulate and eventually reach a tipping point that will result in better relationships, more opportunities, and probably a few more friends.  There's no substitute for face-to-face, but a little time blogging or social media marketing sure beats 'walking the plank' in this tight economy!'

Blogging is Green and Sustainable Marketing

Next week a few thousand green industry professionals will converge in Louisville, Kentucky to hear me speak on blogging and social media marketing.  O.K., they may not all be coming to hear me speak, but at the very least they will be converging and will have that opportunity.  If they realized the power of blogging and social media marketing for their business, and how it works organically..something they should have a good handle on....well, they might just want to learn more. 

Here's how it works.  Most things that grow organically are also sustainable, too, just as long as they get the required care and feeding.  In that sense, blogging is a lot like gardening.  You can grow whatever you want.  You just need specific goals, a little discipline for achieving them, and the right tools and know-how.  That's where I come in.  My speaking specialties are sales and marketing, and these days, blogging, micro-blogging and social media marketing happen to be the right marketing choices for most businesses - large or small.  The reason for this is they are amazingly effective for building, strengthening and protecting a market niche -- and for a very small investment of time and money.  All you really need is some creativity, the tools and know-how, and the time to put it all into action.

Traditional direct marketing methods, such as postcards and email campaigns, in addition to good old face-to-face selling, are great ways to jump start your business right now.  The problem is you have to get up tomorrow and do it all over again.  These methods are effective and necessary, but their effects can often be short-lived.  If you think about most of your marketing efforts, they don't last very long.  You may place an ad in the hopes some people see it.   Then you hope that a few of them will actually take action so that the both of you can realize a benefit.  Oh, but you have a website that you say is your sustainable presence on the Web.  Are you sure?  The problem is the search engines don't like passive websites like yours and mine.  They like change!  People like change, too!  Hmm....could this be an insight.   Nicely done.  You now know that the ongoing changes you make to your blog also help to optimize it for the search engines.  This gets you noticed.  And that can help you grow your business.

Let's face it, blogging is the future of marketing right now.  Blogging is real and sustainable marketing that organically grows over time.   You just need to have a purpose for your blogging that supports your company's mission or purpose.  Then start planting those seeds.  Of course, you'll want to fertilize those seeds.  That's where Social Media Marketing comes in.  Social Media Marketing is the fertilizer that connects your blog messages to the people that can benefit from the products and services your company provides.  Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and many more Social Media Marketing and Networking sites put the face of your business on the Web.  That face connects with people.  It connects needs with people that have solutions for those needs.  Blogging and Social Median Marketing makes you familiar.  Familiarity leads to trust.  All you have to do is tell your story.  Be original!  Tell a story about someone that benefits from a business relationship with you.  Congratulations!  You've just planted a seed that will make your business come alive - and continue to grow with it. 

If you read my blog regularly, you know I try to keep it interesting by framing my message in the context of a popular movie that most people will recognize.  This week I'm making an exception by instead using a very nice film created by PLANET - The Professional Landcare Network - to promote the Green Industry Conference (GIC) this coming week. It's a huge gathering of like-minded professionals that work every day to sustain the environment we all enjoy.  I'm looking forward to helping them build sustainable marketing practices at a couple of sessions, but especially with my program Saturday morning, October 25th entitled: Get Real! Launch Your Blog Now

 

Shakin' It Here Boss - Internet Marketing 101

If you are a Paul Newman fan, you undoubtedly recognize this post on growing your business acknowledges the passing of one of the great guys in film.  The words "shakin' it here boss," were of course used by Paul Newman in In the film Cool Hand Luke.  In this 1967 film about Luke (Paul Newman) and the other prisoners on the chain gang, if you needed to take a bio break you went into the ditch where you would frequently shake a branch of the willowy shrubs and and yell out "shakin' it here boss."  This accomplished a couple of things (beyond that bio break).  One, the boss knew you were still there and had not run off.  And two, he knew you were exactly right there! --- so he wouldn't mistake you for an animal moving around in the brush and shoot you.  That will keep you on your toes!  And don't forget the Charmin.

Here's the point.  This is a lot like Marketing where you have to make some noise to get noticed.  If you think of your customer or prospect as "the boss", then you understand where I'm going with this.  Your customers like to know what you are up to.  They really do.  We call this communication.  If they don't hear from you every now and then, they forget about you.  You won't get shot, but you may lose them as a customer, which is pretty much the same thing today.   The key is it doesn't have to be complicated.  That's one the beauty of Internet Marketing as compared to traditional marketing.  You have the means of quickly communicating a message through such methods as blogging, social media marketing, and micro-blogging. As long as you keep shakin' it, your business will continue to grow and you'll remain relevant.  That's the formula:  Have a simple, relevant message, and get the word out about it frequently. 

Now, to take this analogy with Cool Hand Luke further, let's continue the story.  Well, Luke decided at one point that he had had about enough and was going to escape.  So, on this particular trip into the ditch he brings a long stretch of string that he ties to the branch of the shrub he is using as cover.  Just for good measure he yells out one or two times -- "shakin' it here boss" -- then proceeds to run off, all the while shaking the branch with that string as he gets a head start on the boss.  It works because the boss has an expectation about that shaking branch.  In markets, there are expectations too.  If you are just meeting expectations, you may be alright, as some expectations are good.  Then again, do you want your business to just be alright or do you want more?  You can use your Internet Marketing to shake things up -- to stay ahead of the game.  That's something you also have to clearly understand.  With Internet Marketing it is so easy to be copied.  Yes, people will "borrow" your ideas.  You can try to fight it, but that seldom works and takes too much effort.  Better to just continue to raise the bar and you'll get noticed even more.  Position your company in unique ways that demonstrate you are on top of your game.  Lead the market.  And to paraphrase a line from the movie.....now that's a real cool hand!

Finally, if you'll be at the Green Industry Conference later this month in Louisville, Ky, I'll be presenting a session on Blogging and Social Media Marketing on Saturday October 25th at 9:30 a.m.  Come and learn more - especially if you are a green industry professional.

Is Selling Successfully Instinctive?

If you've experienced success in your selling career, then you are more likely to be successful in the future.  Everything builds and grows until you are selling almost instinctively.  You begin to anticipate objections and opportunities for closing.   And, you have stories to tell that help you do this.  You can help your prospects see how things may work for them by telling them stories of your past successes.  You have to make those stories come alive!  You may not want to share the names, but you can certainly develop the characters.  Do this by adding details that you would only know if you were really there.  The more specific the details, the more credible the story.  And yes, it's o.k. to exaggerate a little. Exaggerate or embellish interesting details to inject some drama or humor.   

The story I would like to share with you happened about ten years ago when I had just completed a landscape renovation for one of my favorite clients.  His name is Bob.  Bob was more than a customer.  He was a mentor too.  So rather than sending me a check for our work, I would always go to his home and pick it up.  That way we would have an opportunity to talk business, usually over a cup of coffee at the kitchen table.  The T.V. might be blaring, or one or both of our phones ringing, but we would nevertheless carry on our business banter for at least an hour.  When the meeting was over, I'd  be on my way. 

On one particular day we concluded the meeting differently.  Bob walked me outside.  We stood on the front entrance and admired the work that was just completed at his home on a quiet cul-de-sac. That's when Bob asked me a very important question.  It's a simple question that I believe drives most successful sales transactions.  In fact, this thought is on just about eveyone's mind in this fast-paced society we live in........what's next?  That's the question.  That's what Bob asked me.  "What's next?"  Think about it.  You are always either doing something or thinking about what's going to happen next.   Here's how it went for me and Bob.

So, what's next?

What do you mean what's next, we're done?

You don't get it - do you? 

I guess I don't.. help me out.     

And that's when Bob proceeded to tell me my work wasn't done.  Don't misunderstand, he loved the work we did and really showed his appreciation.  What he was asking me was what other projects could we do together.  How else could we add more value to his home, and therefore, this relationship.  He wanted to know that I was thinking ahead.  He wanted to know what was on the cutting edge.  He didn't want to hear from one of his neighbors first.  He wanted to be first.  He wanted to know he was in good hands - that I was going to take care of him and the investments that he had already made.  It made me realize something.  I was committing one of the cardinal sins of selling.  In a way,  I was leaving money on the table!  Why?  Because I was going to go back to the office and relax and celebrate this project.  I had no idea what was next! 

Do you know what's next for your customers?  Are you developing new products and services, or somehow upgrading your offerings?  Depending upon your industry, this can take time.  Yet, any salesperson can add value to that relationship by doing one simple thing - communicating!  Let your clients know you are thinking about what's next.  That can be enough.  In the movie Top Gun, Tom Cruise plays the role of Maverick, the cocky fighter pilot who is known as a little bit dangerous because he flies by the seat of his pants.  Or does he?  During flight training, he says, "If you think up there, you're dead."   I don't think he meant this literally.  His point was when you know your craft well, when you can anticipate what's next, you can instinctively take the right actions.  They'll only be reckless if you aren't prepared - if you aren't well trained and experienced.   

If you are going to be a Top Gun sales professional, you have to be able to respond instinctively - just like a fighter pilot.  You have to know your craft and always be anticipating what's next.  Then you can respond with confidence.  And your customers will always be with you.  Selling is a game of confidence.  Train well and anticipate and you'll always be ready.

Risky Business or Built to Last? - Here's How:

Lately I have been hearing a lot of talk about being transparent in your business.  By this most people mean being genuine and authentic.  I'm also hearing more about growing a business by getting your customers to love you.  Still others are saying "friends do business with friends."  How do you feel about this?  I have been trying to reconcile all of this, especially after a recent teleconference with some colleagues that are on a customer service panel I’ll be facilitating at an upcoming PLANET conference – Green Industry Conference. 

My personal opinion is this all sounds good, but in practice is just isn’t practical. And that view was shared by my colleagues. I start to recall the old school techniques I learned when I was fresh out of college in a corporate sales position.  The sales training went something like,  "Get 'em to love you and they'll buy anything." This much I can tell you from my own experiences as a business owner - business is still business.  Its tough enough getting people to like you, much less love you.  The reason for that is behaviors are driven by emotions – and that is a slippery slope to build a business on. 

The vital thing that precedes love and friendship is trust. That's right, if you can get people to trust you, they will be more likely to stay with you for life.  Why? Trust is sustainable.  Trust can last a long time – and that should be great news to forward thinking business leaders. Let's face it, what is the number one reason for the break-up of most friendships, especially those intimate friendships we call marriage?  You got it - lack of trust.  It usually occurs because somebody has crossed the line.  My suggestion for establishing more PRODUCTIVE BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS is clearly defining those relationships - setting boundaries, being clear about what everyone's responsibilities are, keeping it.....well, business-like.   

So, what's the best way to get started building these business relationships? I suggest being "Professionally Friendly."  Nobody wants to do business with a stiff.  So, start by being professional and friendly and living by a value system.  The trust builds from there.  People will learn that you care about them.  In fact, one definition of trust is..."able to be entrusted with."  Your customers are entrusting you with a number of things, not the least of which is their money.  So, you have to deliver.  If you mess things up, you have to make it right, just as Tom Cruise did in the film Risky Business.  In the movie, Tom plays Joel Goodsen, the high school senior who is entrusted with the care of the family castle on Chicago's prestigious North Shore while his parents take a vacation.  "We trust you Joel," were his mother's last words.  Of course, he betrays that trust and takes the Porsche out of the garage and puts it in Lake Michigan.  Nevertheless, he is able to secure the funds to make everything right.  His methods are a stretch - but hey, it's a movie.  The point is the story ends well and he gets accepted to Princeton to study, what else, business.  Trust me (pun intended); business isn't risky if you are clear and authentic with your customers. If you do that, your business will prosper and your life will be much simpler.  Love your family, let your customers trust you, and you'll have all the business - and friends - that you need.

Environment Shapes Successful Behavior

This past week I had the privilege of hearing the remarkable story of Bill Strickland at the annual convention of The National Speakers Association in New York City.  Mr. Strickland has transformed the lives of thousands of inner city kids and their families by creating a center right in the heart of the poorest part of Pittsburgh where he grew up.  As he pointed out - "because that's exactly where it had to be."  Bill Strickland raised the funds to create a world class - and I do mean world class center that takes the natural abilities that we all have and nurtures them by training these kids to go on to successful careers, even as Ph'd's and physicians.  Mr. Strickland believes that environment shapes behavior.  I couldn't agree with him more.  As a landscape architect for the last twenty years, I'm always amazed at how peoples lives and lifestyles are transformed by enhancing their environments.

What exactly did Bill Strickland do?  Well, in this beautiful center he began to bring in original artwork.  The naysayers said that wasn't a good idea because it would might get harmed. In 24 years they've not had one incident.  So he has brought in more original art, which happens to be one of his passions.  He did the same with jazz music.  His center soon attracted the attention of gourmet chefs, who now help train the students in the culinary arts while also create amazing food that everyone enjoys.  There's more.  Every day they bring in fresh flowers - every day!  I don't know how he pulls it off, but now there are other centers like this being developed across the country with a goal to create 200 of them.  Organizations like Dell are donating computers. Steelcase donated furniture.  Paul Simon brought in his engineers to help develop the recording studio that attracted world class musicians like Herbie Hancock that have even recorded Grammy winning work there. I think you'll be hearing more about Bill Strickland's story now that he has put it into print.  Check out his book - Make the Impossible Possible.

Businesses people like you and me can learn from this.  Change the work environment and you will change productivity.   A beautiful environment supports high expectations that produce results -whether that means increased sales or better customer service.  But what if you are an employee working out of a cubicle and can't change your environment?   I'm sure you can always do something like bringing in a personal photo.  Yet, we all can change our attitude about our environment by accepting what can't be changed.  In one of my favorite movies, the Jericho Mile, Peter Strauss plays the lead character Rain Murphy who is a convicted felon and also a world class runner.  Running is Murphy's way of "doing his time."  The warden wanted to take Murphy outside the prison to train for the Olympics - good intentions - but not so good result.  Well, the movie ends with Murphy celebrating with his own olympics within the walls of the prison.  It says the a lot about the human spirit and the power of the mind.  And it showcases the Rolling Stones classic Sympathy for the Devil quite well.  Until next week, see what you can do to bring some beauty to your life and the people you work with.  Everyone deserves to learn and work in the right environment.

 

A Flexible Sales Process - It's Great for Your Customer

It's paramount in any business to have a reliable process that delivers your solutions for your customers.  However, every customer is different and the application of that process needs to be carefully executed.  Many of  my customers are like me in that we enjoy learning about the personal lives of each other.  This makes business more relaxing and relationship based.  It's one of the reasons I left the corporate world to start several successful businesses in the green industry.  I like to get to know people!

This week though, I was working with a customer that likes to get down to business.  And that's what we did.  Everything is moving along well and I believe we will successfully develop a solution that not only fixes the problem he hired me for, but also enhances his business operations so that he can operate that much more effectively in the future.  What did I do?  Well, first, as I said, I've learned over the years get to the point quickly with him.  Secondly, I quickly sized up the situation and offered that I could easily fix the problem -- though also suggesting this might be a nice opportunity to take advantage of new technology and rebuild this so that it lasts longer and works better.  Of course there is a cost involved.  But then, what is the cost of putting a band-aid on a problem?  Eventually you have to make the investment.

And that's we are likely going to do.  We're going to make an investment for the future.  I think it's a great solution to give your customers your best.  This is the approach I like to take in all my business dealings  - "It's great to be here!"  That's why I love my job.  It reminds me of the character Damone, in Cameron Crowe's classic film Fast Times at Ridgemont High describing his five point plan for picking up girls to his buddy Rad.  No. 3 in that plan is ...."act like wherever you are, that's the place to be.  ISN'T THIS GREAT!", he says.  If you do that, it's impossible for you not to adapt to the differences - the quirks, the peccadilloes, the unique characteristics of each and every one of your customers that make your business a lot more interesting for you, and hopefully, profitable too.

True Nature of Success Works

Today I enjoyed an easy 5.5 mile run on a bright, sunny afternoon - which is bit surprising because quite frequently my usual 3 mile training run is a challenge.  In addition to the temperatures in the 70's being cooler than normal today for a Fourth of July in Chicago, there are many fragrant plants in bloom in the prairie where I run.  Clovers, coneflowers, compass plants, and many others I cannot immediately identify are all showing their faces.  Yet it was the fragrant combination of each and every one of them that was especially invigorating.  It made me feel more alive and happy to be doing exactly what I was doing, which of course made my workout that much easier.  Hmm, I wondered, does this have any relevance to accomplishments in a work environment? 

Is that a ridiculous thought?  What does nature have to do with our work anyway?    The environment we live and work in is vital to both our lifestyle and the quality of our actions in play and work.  Sure, I know some of you may suggest this theory is the musing of someone that spent too many years working in the green industry and hugging trees.  O.K, then how do you explain the the fact that people are motivated to levels of greater productivity by a visually stimulating work environment?  _ Or even by the energy of music that they happen to enjoy?  Isn't it then possible that fragrance could motivate behavior and encourage action?  Absolutely. Since we have other senses in addition to sight and sound, then isn't our true nature as human beings a function of all them combined?  Then wake up and smell the coffee (or roses)!    

One of the reasons I travel around the country giving presentations on the true nature of success is that I know it works.  Artists, athletes, even people like you and me know that we have been placed on this earth to make a unique contribution to humanity - and most likely in a unique way.  For some reason I'm especially tuned into nature, but I also love to work and accomplish something every day.  And I find there are many similarities between productive work and the nature that is around us.  I don't believe that is an accidental occurrence.  Show me someone that is successful in their work and I guarantee you much of that success can be explained by natural systems.   Nature is balanced, integrated, takes a rest on a regular basis, and then gets up the next day to work (and play) with the same energy that you see in people who exhibit those same qualities.  The bottom line is the true nature of success is second nature to us! And if you want to improve your bottom line, you'll want to consider not just what you do every day in your work, but why.   If you like the answer you get, then I'm sure my thoughts here made sense to you.

Relationship Selling - Plant the Right Seeds!

How often do you tell your colleagues what they do well?  This is probably one of their unique qualities that makes the relationship valuable.  When you recognize their unique contributions to your business relationship, you validate, reinforce, and most importantly, value what they bring to the relationship.

I recently had a client thank me for following up - as requested -  on our ongoing dialogue to bring a relationship selling program to his organization.  It was a simple, even off-hand comment that I appreciated.  It made me ask myself how often I recognize the contributions others make to my work.  How often do I plant those seeds that grow into sustainable relationships? When we do this it shows the right kind of leadership.

This past weekend I saw the film "Smart People."  I'm not sure if I got all of the subtle messages in this 'think piece,' but I'm fairly certain one of them was to make a connection with people in a personal way.  Get to know the people you are engaged with.  In my opinion, this is the Right Way to operate a business.  All of our intellectual knowledge is meaningless if there isn't a personal connection.  This is what  builds relationships!  So, thanks Jason for your kind words about what I do well in our business relationship.  I appreciate it, and will carry that with me in my work with other clients.

Green Industry Selling the Right Way

Today I gave a presentation to a group of down-to-earth green industry professionals at the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association Winter Seminar.  It's always fun to help people grow their business, but it was an especially enjoyable day for me because it was an ILCA event just like this one nearly 20 years ago where my eyes were opened to the professionalism shared by other peers when I started my landscape business.  Not many of those folks were here today, but the next generation is moving up, and that is exciting to see the enthusiasm continue to grow.

Now that the 'going green' thing - or whatever we are calling this wave of green awareness over the last few years is reaching a crescendo, I'm already hearing talk that ... this too will pass.  That may be true to some extent, but not as far as this industry is concerned.  I received an education myself today that the quality and caliber of green industry individuals, as well as the quality of projects they are producing, is continuing to rise to new levels -- including sound eco-systems that are evidently de-rigeur in certain municipalities.

The topic for the day was Selling The Right Way.  Interesting to me to work together on this with a group of ecologists, arborists, and landscape architects.  And why not?  As we discussed today, sales is only helping people to get exactly what they want - the best overall complement of value - as defined by a whole new set of parameters in our increasingly professional industry.  I wish them all well!

Selling The Right Way is Transparent

Yesterday I gave my Selling the Right Way! presentation at the annual Green Industry Conference sponsored by the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET).  The audience was more than receptive - they get it! We really had a great time.   We learned that selling today has to be very transparent.  Why?  Because we are living in a reality-based world.  Nobody is fooled by the old sales and marketing tricks that used to work. We are conditioned to size up a situation very quickly - the sales professional - their company - and their product and service.  Customers want results and they want them now. 

This is good news !  Now we all get what we want sooner if we know how to deliver.  Customers are demanding that we shorten our sell cycles - get to the point - cut to the chase!  If we can do that, and they can show us the money, then everyone wins.  A great deal of our Q and A discussion centered on this point - getting customers to make a commitment quickly.  Virtually all are very willing to do this if we can get out of our own way and make the right things happen. It just takes a repeatable process where we take control of the situation and clearly demonstrate we care about that customer.  That's what I think of as the right way - everyone wins -everyone gets what they want when the sales professional and their organization have their act together.  We just have to be as transparent (i.e. honest and genuine) as possible - because everything we do has a ripple effect that not only sells the customer in front of us, but often leads to the referral of their friends!  The Right Way does Work.

Customer Service - It's the Heart of Your Business

After speaking this past weekend at the Summer Symposium of The Professional Landcare Network (PLANET), I've been contemplating the fact that great customer service is nothing more than consistently performing  to the expectations of your clients.  Too often we stop doing what works to try the latest idea.  Companies need new ideas to grow, but not at the expense of what helped them develop their unique position in their marketplace.  As simple as it may seem, one of the greatest challenges in business is to perform consistently - every day - without exception.  It's a nice goal to consider.  Maybe this goal with a backup plan or two could enable you to transform your industry -- ? 

Leaders from green industry companies across the U.S. shared some of their secrets during our 90 minutes together - my favorite?  -- "its the little things that make a big difference."  There is no magic bullet.  A complimentary rose bush is remembered for as long as it continues to flourish - its fragrance and color reminding the client of a favorable experience.  Too often we try to be bigger and better, when all we need to be is different.  In our society of constant change, different is a little extra at the right time - combined with consistent service - friendly, cheerful, caring, appreciative....you name the descriptor, because it only matters to you and your customer.  Only you know why your customers favor you over your competitors.  Maybe they just like you better - and there is nothing at all difficult about being likable if you truly love your work and the people you serve.  I doubt customer service is secondary to you, or you wouldn't have read through this far.  No, I suspect customer service is the heart of your business. Its that one thing that means something to you and your customer - that thing that connects you and your customer in a way that changes both of you -- forever.  Great customer service is the right way to do business - which is why it works!

The Green Thread - It Works!

Everybody seems to be talking about green these days.  What does it really mean to be green?  Well, start by just looking around.  Green is the most predominant color in the universe- and therefore, it is an overriding energy that connects all of us.  From basis physics we all learned colors vibrate at different frequencies - and therefore have different energies.  So you could say there is a green 'thread' that connects all of us - an energy that we all share.  Does this sound too 'woo-woo?'   If you spend any time in nature at all you know it energizes you - it gives you creative thoughts - it nourishes you.  I just can't believe this is an accidental thing. 

We ARE creatures of nature and when we become more aware of that we realize green is about awareness.  It's about who we are, what we do during our short time on this planet, and why we are doing it.  Green is the awareness that we have a responsibility to ourselves and everyone that is connected to us, which is why the current green movement to save the planet may just work.  The trick may just be all of us making the effort to maintain the connection and not break that thread.  It can work!

When Something's Not Right its Wrong

It occurred to me today that when you work on fixing what is not rightfully your responsibility, you are doing the wrong thing.  Why?  Because your time and talent and energy should be focused on doing the right thing.  It reminded me of the verse from Bob Dylan's You're Gonna Make Lonesome When You Go - "when something is not right its wrong!"

So what's wrong?  It's wrong, for example, to expect others to clean up your mess.   While we can't possibly finish the job, we baby boomers have a responsibility to leave this planet in a better condition than it appears to be presently heading.  It would be wrong to expect our children to fix what's already broken.  We have to do the right thing for them.

This brings me to the genesis of my thought.  Today a customer asked me to fix a condition that pre-existed my company's work on a project.  I used to do this - and at no charge.  Why not, I reasoned, I'm already there and it's not worth debating.  This all saved me from confronting the reality that I was cleaning up someone else's mess in the name of "customer service."  It was a convenient lie I fed myself.  Unfortunately, I've come to realize this isn't how the universe works.  It only creates a low state of consciousness. It's not the proper resolution, unless you're in the charity business, which I'm not.  And even charities work for a specific purpose or reason.

When you take on responsibilities that aren't rightfully yours, you feel compromised.  You owe it to yourself, your company, and your customer to do the right thing.  When we all do this, responsibility and accountability all fall into the right places and then the whole system is lifted up because now we are all working for the right reasons - we're all being true to ourselves and not feeling that low state of making the wrong choice.  Right choices are grounded in the right reasons - which is why they deliver the right results!

Grow Your Business The Right Way

A few nights ago I was sitting in my screened porch enjoying the scents and sounds of the evening rain storm.  When I wandered inside to the pantry for a snack, I was struck with how many products today are labeled 'organic' - from chips to raisins to even wine and more!  I wondered if organic really means something or if it's the latest 'flavor' that is being marketed to us consumers. 

When I think of organic I think of things that happen naturally - almost without effort.  Organic growth, whether in nature - or in business, such as internet search engine optimization (SEO) - implies that organic is a better way because it's more sustainable in the long term.  I'm an educated consumer, so I know, for example, that wild salmon is better than salmon raised in farms where cholorinated products are used to control the undesirable growth of pathogens.  For some reason wild salmon doesn't even cost more.  At least that has been my experience.  I do know that organic SEO is cheaper and more effective than pay per click.  Organic is really taking a natural approach.  I suppose natural has connotations that don't work as well in commerce today and we need a descriptor that does.  Enter Organic.

What we are really after is results.  If you want to get the right results, you can achieve them in many ways.  But if your approach is the right one - the natural way - then you are most likely in harmony with what sustains that result.  This applies in nature as well as commerce.  Interesting, isn't it?  This takes me right back to my rainstorm.  You can't replicate that.  Something is lost when we don't follow the right or natural path for obtaining desired results.  I'm suggesting that organic is more about "the way" and less about the product."  If you want to acheive the right results in your business - sustainable sales, service and customers -  you need to think about "growing" your business organically - which simply means doing the right things in the right way.  Your value system will give you clues to the right way - then you just have to 'grow from what you know.'

Be Ready for the Opportunity to Make a Difference for Your Customer

Does your staff know how far they can go to help your customer?  I had an experience yesterday that raised this question for me.  I was returning to the airport from a speaking engagement to fellow green industry professionals.  Here’s what happened. Just as the shuttle dropped me off at the Louisville, Kentucky airport, I realized my cell phone was missing.  I stepped inside the terminal and looked around. My first thought was every person here probably has a cell phone with unlimited minutes that I could borrow.  Nevertheless, I asked for the nearest pay phone. A couple of dollars in quarters produced no results.  I suppose I needed a calling card. Yet, who carries a calling card today when you can just use your cell phone?  I hustled over to the Fifth Third Bank to get more change.  The manager allowed me to use her phone to call the hotel to track down my phone.  After numerous calls and discussions with the staff members at the Galt House Hotel , my cell phone was discovered at the shuttle desk.  A quick minded bell captain drove it over to me and I made the last flight out to Chicago that evening.  Whew! 

The manager at the bank was just closing when I arrived, yet she stayed an extra thirty minutes just to help me out. The bell captain from the hotel used his personal car to bring me the phone so I could make the flight.  Wow! Clearly, there was no hesitation for either of these kind souls regarding the best action to take.  In less than thirty minutes, my perception of their respective companies jumped a huge notch - all because of one kind act. 

The call of duty beyond the ordinary only comes once in a while, and you have to know in advance what to do.  Is your staff clear about how far you want them to go to please a customer – even when it’s outside of their normal duties?  While considering that, let me ask you how much loyalty you think you can build if your staff is trained to recognize opportunities like this for demonstrating exceptional customer service?  I'll tell you one thing; I plan to be at this same hotel and airport later this year and will be sure to stop and say thank you again to these fine individuals - and their managers too!

Focus on Your Existing Customer

Are you planning for inevitable changes in your business? What might those changes be?  Too often we accept the status quo without strategically planning for what’s next, despite the rapid changes in our society.  I own and operate a snow and Ice management company, a sister company to my green industry business, and we recently ran out of salt for our de-icing operations. In an effort to preserve cash flow we reduced our inventories too low and had to make spot purchases on the open market at a premium price.  We preserved our level of service, but at a price.  As we waited and waited for our usual supplier to come through, we were ultimately informed of the truth – they were supplying the needs of municipalities ahead of ours.  We weren’t happy about this, but we understood.

My question is what situation will you find yourself if necessary materials that ensure your company’s profitable operations are abruptly taken away?  These materials could be a valued commodity such as fuel or power.  It could also be labor, both skilled and unskilled. Can you include customers in that mix? Absolutely – especially if you are treating your customers as a commodity.  The more you fail to nurture your existing customer base, the more likely this valuable resource is going to be taken away by a competitor.  It’s prudent to plan for change – but if you focus on your existing customer now, the effect of any changes will be much less significant.