Sunday, August 26, 2007
Internet Social Networks Are The New Frontier
I wrote months ago about Blogs: The New Frontier and I want to republish that post as a follow up to my last post on Internet Social Networks like Facebook becoming the new marketing venue. Let me correct both posts with Internet Social Networks Are The New Frontier. Blogs and Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin, etc. under title of Internet Social Networks are the New Frontier for in tuned marketing professionals and experts. As a small or medium size business owner you must make yourself aware of this and be sure to invest your precious marketing dollars wisely. The best money you will ever spend will be to consult an internet marketing specialist. Don't wait to be too late. Too late may mean your forced out of business by your creative and fore sightful competition.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
FaceBook Is The New Marketing Venue
I have to admit that I'm lagging in the internet social networking arena. My young adult children are more involved with Facebook for example than I am but I will learn more. Why?
Look at these numbers from emarketer.com
An article I read in Forbes.com suggests that not only is Facebook growing fast it should be larger than MySpace given the user friendliness and marketing strategies of Facebook. For example; companies like IBM and Microsoft and of course Forbes.com are creating their own open or private communities in Facebook for free. The potential here is awesome. Imagine the intellectual capital of past and present employees coming together in one venue sharing ideas. That is one possibility which is an innovation incubator of ideas for a business. Imagine the marketing power of having your brand viewed perhaps with video (YouTube) and seen by a target market interested in your product or services. After all, with PVR on TV's and people going to the kitchen or washroom who actually watches TV commercials anymore. If a business is not marketing or planning to market on the internet very soon they will be throwing their marketing money away. Facebook is just another example of where our target markets or consumers have gone and we need to follow.
Monday, August 20, 2007
I Don't Want To Die With Any Regrets
As a follow up to my post; Fear Of Change - Why? where I wrote about the fear employees have with change within an organization I now want to write today about the fear of getting into business for yourself.
Too often I hear from people who like the idea of being in business for themselves but think the risk is too great. Business ownership in their mind is for the risk taker, the entrepreneur. This thinking could not be farther from the truth. I have not met a business owner yet who did not calculate the odds, weigh the advantages and disadvantages, examine their skill sets, identify their weaknesses and strengths before making a decision to go or not to go. We work too hard for our money to just gamble it away. In fact that risk taker is sitting in a casino playing the slot machines.
True entrepreneurs differ from the masses in one unique characteristic, they are optimists. They see the glass half full, not half empty. Why is that? Is it their astrological sign that predetermines their outlook on life? Is it in their schooling? Is it in their upbringing? Ahh...I think we may have something here.
I watched my father growing up in Toronto, Canada, in the 1960's working a job to pay the bills and my mother working nights so she could raise us during the day. But they were always looking for ways to make extra money. My dad started a painting business and would market himself door to door and provide his services on the weekends or late into the night. My mother, originally from Cheticamp, Nova Scotia, grew up hooking rugs which are a very popular item in the arts and crafts collectors circles. She would hook rugs and send them back home to make extra money.
Watching this as a child I must have picked up that this is life and work and being creative to earn money is normal. For example; I had 3 paper routes, shoveled snow, cut grass, anything to make a buck. In fact, we use to collect 'etch -a sketch' toys that were thrown into the garbage by Peter Austin and rebuilt them into working condition. We planted ourselves outside the Toronto and Ontario hydro and sold them for one dollar each to the workers as they exited the buildings going to their cars. We even developed, marketed and operated a couple of neighborhood fairs to other kids for a .25$ entrance fee. For attractions we had guess the number of marbles in the jar, sit in the new car for a fee, play in the water, music, etc. We were young entrepreneurs.
I'm sure our parents had a great impact on how we live our lives today. They can also have a negative impact on how we live our lives today. How often have you heard from your parents the words; NO, or DON'T, or THAT IS NOT SAFE, etc.
We are conditioned through repetition by the words of our loving parents at an early age to embrace caution or to not try . The good news is that we can over come this conditioning. We can change. Positive affirmations spoke out loud to yourself daily is one method and writing goal cards and staring at them everyday is another. The list goes on and any one of Tony Robbins seminars will be helpful in this regard.
What motivates me to succeed is the fear of sitting on my rocking chair when I'm old wishing I had tried. I'm not afraid of failure. If you fail you brush yourself off, take stock of what you learned and then move on. But to never have tried, that scares me. I don't want to die with any regrets.
Let me know what motivates you to succeed where others have failed? What motivates you to be successful in business? What drives you to change? Are you motivated by fear (running away from pain) or motivated by pleasure (running toward your big dreams)?
Too often I hear from people who like the idea of being in business for themselves but think the risk is too great. Business ownership in their mind is for the risk taker, the entrepreneur. This thinking could not be farther from the truth. I have not met a business owner yet who did not calculate the odds, weigh the advantages and disadvantages, examine their skill sets, identify their weaknesses and strengths before making a decision to go or not to go. We work too hard for our money to just gamble it away. In fact that risk taker is sitting in a casino playing the slot machines.
True entrepreneurs differ from the masses in one unique characteristic, they are optimists. They see the glass half full, not half empty. Why is that? Is it their astrological sign that predetermines their outlook on life? Is it in their schooling? Is it in their upbringing? Ahh...I think we may have something here.
I watched my father growing up in Toronto, Canada, in the 1960's working a job to pay the bills and my mother working nights so she could raise us during the day. But they were always looking for ways to make extra money. My dad started a painting business and would market himself door to door and provide his services on the weekends or late into the night. My mother, originally from Cheticamp, Nova Scotia, grew up hooking rugs which are a very popular item in the arts and crafts collectors circles. She would hook rugs and send them back home to make extra money.
Watching this as a child I must have picked up that this is life and work and being creative to earn money is normal. For example; I had 3 paper routes, shoveled snow, cut grass, anything to make a buck. In fact, we use to collect 'etch -a sketch' toys that were thrown into the garbage by Peter Austin and rebuilt them into working condition. We planted ourselves outside the Toronto and Ontario hydro and sold them for one dollar each to the workers as they exited the buildings going to their cars. We even developed, marketed and operated a couple of neighborhood fairs to other kids for a .25$ entrance fee. For attractions we had guess the number of marbles in the jar, sit in the new car for a fee, play in the water, music, etc. We were young entrepreneurs.
I'm sure our parents had a great impact on how we live our lives today. They can also have a negative impact on how we live our lives today. How often have you heard from your parents the words; NO, or DON'T, or THAT IS NOT SAFE, etc.
We are conditioned through repetition by the words of our loving parents at an early age to embrace caution or to not try . The good news is that we can over come this conditioning. We can change. Positive affirmations spoke out loud to yourself daily is one method and writing goal cards and staring at them everyday is another. The list goes on and any one of Tony Robbins seminars will be helpful in this regard.
What motivates me to succeed is the fear of sitting on my rocking chair when I'm old wishing I had tried. I'm not afraid of failure. If you fail you brush yourself off, take stock of what you learned and then move on. But to never have tried, that scares me. I don't want to die with any regrets.
Let me know what motivates you to succeed where others have failed? What motivates you to be successful in business? What drives you to change? Are you motivated by fear (running away from pain) or motivated by pleasure (running toward your big dreams)?
Friday, August 17, 2007
"Gut Feel" Decision Making Is NOT Cosmic
Here is a follow up to a post I wrote on "What Would You Wear For A Client Presentation":
As a salesperson, have you ever made a "gut feel" decision on a prospect that prevented you from being your best or caused you to act your best? I'm talking about that sales call where within a few moments you are in your mind closing down the meeting as a waste of time and those calls where you are connecting and are in your comfort zone. Even the best sales person has had both experiences. Of course we know that the best sales people will match and mirror verbal and body language, not pre-judge (cherry pick) and ask questions that get the prospect selling them self to you and focused on them. But, I don't care how good you are we all had at least once the gut feeling that sent a sales call into a tail spin.
Have you ever asked yourself where that gut feel comes from? It is NOT from the cosmos. It is not the perfect or not so perfect alignment of the stars or a universal vibration theory. It is a culmination of all the external stimuli entering our subconscious mind.
Let me put it to you this way, if you were meeting with a financial expert for the first time who was going to plan a personal financial freedom portfolio for you and he arrived at your house in a 15 year old car that was falling apart and got out of the car in loose fitting clothes that were wrinkled and his appearance was unkempt your subconscious mind would be sending a message to your gut feel center of your body that maybe this isn't the right person to manage your money.
Or, what about the construction contractor you are meeting that is going to discuss building an addition to your house for a budget of $100k and he shows up in a beat up old rusted van and doesn't take notes and after looking around the house in 5 minutes he is quoting numbers to you on how much it will cost to complete the project. Again, your gut feel is telling you that maybe this isn't the right guy to trust with your home and money.
Both of these examples, if not for our gut feel, could have been the best person for the task at hand but we will never know because we elected not to do business with them. In fact, we probably elected to not listen to what they had to say because we made a snap decision to not use them and now you are focused only on how to get them out of your house sooner as opposed to later.
Now we know our gut feel can be fairly accurate but I'm sure it can be just as often not so accurate. For example; I'm a sales person calling on a General Construction company and the owner is dressed in blue jeans and a t-shirt. His office is decorated in construction industry chic, drafting table and coffee table covered in blueprints, sales samples, business cards, junk, etc. He is hurried and his language is very blunt and to the point. My gut feel might be telling me that this guy is uneducated, blue collar tough with cash flow problems and will never buy my product or service. If that was my feeling my attitude will be to end this call as quickly as I can and move on. Guess what, that person might have been me. I am dressed this way because today I'm on the job site and my guys who I know don't respect the suit. In fact, my clients expect me to be dressed down and when I meet with them I was in jeans and a golf shirt with my company logo. What you never found out is that we are busy because we are good and as a result we have loyal customers with repeat business. In fact our bank account is in 7 figures. You just lost a great account.
When you are in sales you must research your prospect before you meet them and know that prejudging (cherry picking) can cost you business. Be careful of the "Gut Feel". Gut Feel decision making is not cosmic and in reality is a culmination of what we see, hear and feel. Now that you know this, how do you present yourself to your prospect? What subconscious message are you sending to your prospects gut feel center?
As a salesperson, have you ever made a "gut feel" decision on a prospect that prevented you from being your best or caused you to act your best? I'm talking about that sales call where within a few moments you are in your mind closing down the meeting as a waste of time and those calls where you are connecting and are in your comfort zone. Even the best sales person has had both experiences. Of course we know that the best sales people will match and mirror verbal and body language, not pre-judge (cherry pick) and ask questions that get the prospect selling them self to you and focused on them. But, I don't care how good you are we all had at least once the gut feeling that sent a sales call into a tail spin.
Have you ever asked yourself where that gut feel comes from? It is NOT from the cosmos. It is not the perfect or not so perfect alignment of the stars or a universal vibration theory. It is a culmination of all the external stimuli entering our subconscious mind.
Let me put it to you this way, if you were meeting with a financial expert for the first time who was going to plan a personal financial freedom portfolio for you and he arrived at your house in a 15 year old car that was falling apart and got out of the car in loose fitting clothes that were wrinkled and his appearance was unkempt your subconscious mind would be sending a message to your gut feel center of your body that maybe this isn't the right person to manage your money.
Or, what about the construction contractor you are meeting that is going to discuss building an addition to your house for a budget of $100k and he shows up in a beat up old rusted van and doesn't take notes and after looking around the house in 5 minutes he is quoting numbers to you on how much it will cost to complete the project. Again, your gut feel is telling you that maybe this isn't the right guy to trust with your home and money.
Both of these examples, if not for our gut feel, could have been the best person for the task at hand but we will never know because we elected not to do business with them. In fact, we probably elected to not listen to what they had to say because we made a snap decision to not use them and now you are focused only on how to get them out of your house sooner as opposed to later.
Now we know our gut feel can be fairly accurate but I'm sure it can be just as often not so accurate. For example; I'm a sales person calling on a General Construction company and the owner is dressed in blue jeans and a t-shirt. His office is decorated in construction industry chic, drafting table and coffee table covered in blueprints, sales samples, business cards, junk, etc. He is hurried and his language is very blunt and to the point. My gut feel might be telling me that this guy is uneducated, blue collar tough with cash flow problems and will never buy my product or service. If that was my feeling my attitude will be to end this call as quickly as I can and move on. Guess what, that person might have been me. I am dressed this way because today I'm on the job site and my guys who I know don't respect the suit. In fact, my clients expect me to be dressed down and when I meet with them I was in jeans and a golf shirt with my company logo. What you never found out is that we are busy because we are good and as a result we have loyal customers with repeat business. In fact our bank account is in 7 figures. You just lost a great account.
When you are in sales you must research your prospect before you meet them and know that prejudging (cherry picking) can cost you business. Be careful of the "Gut Feel". Gut Feel decision making is not cosmic and in reality is a culmination of what we see, hear and feel. Now that you know this, how do you present yourself to your prospect? What subconscious message are you sending to your prospects gut feel center?
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Sales Force Retention
I came across this great article written by Jeremy Miller with LeapJob.com which speaks to the Sales Force Retention Myth. This is a great follow up article to my post on the Top 10 Sales Manager Mistakes.
This article is worth the read: click here
This article is worth the read: click here
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Vacation Opened My Eyes To Need For Entrepreneurs
I just returned from a vacation to New Brunswick, Canada, to visit my family for my parents 50th wedding anniversary. The trip was great and the barn party we threw for my parents was a great success. The time I spent with my family in the fresh country air was priceless. My brother recently relocated to New Brunswick from Toronto and started a general construction business there a year ago and business is booming for him based on his experience and quality of workmanship. In fact he could be bigger if not for one significant problem, there is no young labour force in New Brunswick. Or at least not a labour force that wants to work. Most of the hard working youth has moved out to western Canada in pursuit of the promised big money.
What I saw in New Brunswick is lots of potential with lots of customers. The labour force is cheaper to employ than all other provinces west of New Brunswick and the cost of living is also lower. The biggest problem for New Brunswick, in fact all of the maritimes, has been a legacy of generations use to feeding on the government teat. For the truly industrious or entrepreneurial finding a labour force willing to work hard all year long is difficult when it is easier to work long enough until eligible for unemployment insurance. However, if you can be like my brother and build a business by yourself first as he has done (he now has a waiting list of customers months long) the labour force will come to you for job security. The mass exodus of youth to Alberta says only one thing to me, they want to work but they want a trade and they want to better their life from their parents. Bring the employment to New brunswick that pays fairly and teaches the youth to be proud of their job and I know they will stay home.
There is lots of money (customers) in the maritimes, there is government support for new business entrepreneurship and word of mouth advertising is faster and more loyal than here in Ontario.
If more entrepreneurs invest in the maritimes more of their youth will stay and return to work. Land in New Brunswick is a small fraction of what land is in Alberta or Ontario and as entrepreneurs build the economy in the maritimes land ownership will become the next great investment for your personal portfolio.
My eyes are opened and I believe that New Brunswick in particular is the next best entrepreneurial investment.
What I saw in New Brunswick is lots of potential with lots of customers. The labour force is cheaper to employ than all other provinces west of New Brunswick and the cost of living is also lower. The biggest problem for New Brunswick, in fact all of the maritimes, has been a legacy of generations use to feeding on the government teat. For the truly industrious or entrepreneurial finding a labour force willing to work hard all year long is difficult when it is easier to work long enough until eligible for unemployment insurance. However, if you can be like my brother and build a business by yourself first as he has done (he now has a waiting list of customers months long) the labour force will come to you for job security. The mass exodus of youth to Alberta says only one thing to me, they want to work but they want a trade and they want to better their life from their parents. Bring the employment to New brunswick that pays fairly and teaches the youth to be proud of their job and I know they will stay home.
There is lots of money (customers) in the maritimes, there is government support for new business entrepreneurship and word of mouth advertising is faster and more loyal than here in Ontario.
If more entrepreneurs invest in the maritimes more of their youth will stay and return to work. Land in New Brunswick is a small fraction of what land is in Alberta or Ontario and as entrepreneurs build the economy in the maritimes land ownership will become the next great investment for your personal portfolio.
My eyes are opened and I believe that New Brunswick in particular is the next best entrepreneurial investment.
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