Purpose and passion are 'self serve'

These days you can outsource many responsibilities in your business. Often, you and your customers are better served by doing so because you can hire great expertise at less cost than it would take to employ them in-house. You'll likely gain some efficiencies too. But, there are at least two areas you can't hire out:

1. Your company or organization's purpose

AND

2. The passion it takes to sustain the organization or company

One can't be sure of the reason some companies try to outsource these core elements. My guess is they are tired or they are lazy.

I've seen this done under the veil of 'planning' where an organization wanted the facilitator to lead them to their passion or purpose. In reality, they were not willing to do the soul-searching work it took to get to the answers they needed. Granted, sometimes you may need the assistance of someone to help you with unpacking the 'how' of your purpose, but never the 'what'.

I urge you to do the work. If you don't know how, try this. Shut off all electronic devices and go to a place you cannot be disturbed for a few hours. Without distraction, it may not even take this long. Be sure to take a pen and a legal pad with you.

1. Then, ask yourself this question: Why do people come to your business or organization?
2. If you are failing and need to make a change, the question might be: Why do you want them to come to your organization or business?
3. Then, ask yourself this: What really makes me excited about our business?

Discovering these answers will invigorate and excite you. If it doesn't, you have not found your purpose or passion.

What baseball can teach you about being a better marketer!

I’ve heard many people say “baseball is so slow” or “baseball is boring.” If I know them, I'll ask why they feel that way. Usually the answer is similar to “there is so much standing around.” I’ll admit I was practically born on a baseball field and I love the game. Certainly not everyone has that same experience. However, there is a lot the game can teach marketers if we see what is really happening with every pitch.

Baseball is a game of fundamentals and planning. So is marketing.

Baseball is a game of strategy and patience. So is marketing.

Baseball is a game of subtlety and adjustments. So is marketing.

A fundamental example: if a base stealer’s footwork is bad, he will need to be one step faster than someone with perfect fundamentals to steal a base. If a marketer doesn’t engage staff early by asking questions and using their feedback, your campaign/promotion won’t be as successful as if you had.

A strategy example: there are (at least) 5 more ways to score if a runner is on second or third base, so you will see team sacrifice an out to move a runner up. It is basic baseball strategy, based on numbers. As a marketer you need a strategy and then you need to follow it. Too often I see a lot of wishing and hoping. Have a well-considered strategy. Use it patiently. Judge it carefully.

A subtle example: professional baseball players are great defenders too. They make hard plays look easy. Why? Because they were positioned correctly or they anticipated where the ball would be hit based on the pitch thrown or the hitter’s tendencies. They or their coaches notice small things and adjust accordingly. Baseball is a game of constant change. Marketing is exactly the same. Your ability to adjust in the short and long term is what will make your success.

See, baseball is not slow or boring when you know what to watch. Enjoy!

You get more bees with questions!

Sales. Team building. Marketing. Or, just getting along with others. This skill will assist you in many areas. Today there are numerous ways to interact with people. Facebook. Phone calls. Email. Skype. And yes, even face-to-face. This method will work with all of them.

It has nearly miraculous warming effects on people. The better you get at this the more positively people will think of you or your company. They’ll remember you. You likely will make more sales and build more brand equity. You'll probably be happier too.

What is this wonder skill? Questions.

Ask questions in a kind and polite manner and doors will swing wide open for you.

It takes sincerity. Failure may be painful because false sincerity is worse than rudeness. Consistency is needed to prove your sincerity at times.

If you show an interest in the people, remember names and use them to address those in which you speak, you’ll stand out and be remembered. Remember the sincerity rule here because you don’t want to be ‘that guy’ that over does this.

People care about their own interests and wants. That is not a fault; it’s just a fact. They might need what you have, but given the choice they’d rather get it from someone who is interested in them.

Done right. You’ll get more bees with questions. I promise.

Make it hard to do business with you. Your competitors will love you!

Recently I had an interaction with a company I do business with. I like them. I recommend them because overall they have a good product and staff that understands all aspects of the industry. The interaction was fine, but it was not great. And that is "The rest of the story."

Some departments at this company insist on making it difficult to do business with them. How they make it difficult does not matter. Difficult is relative, but you'll know it when you see it. My guess is that the CEO and the department leader have no idea this is happening.

Are you making it easy or hard to do business with your company?

You might be able to separate yourself well enough to answer this objectively. If you can, great. Do it.

If you can't, ask some staff members that have the ability to reflect and analyze things like this. Or, ask a few good customers.

Start with a question like:

What really bugs you about doing business with us?

or

What one or two things would you ask me to fix if you took over our business tomorrow?

All this assumes you are willing to change or at least adjust the problem area. If you're not, you might want to wait until you are ready.

Pricing, packages, bundles. Are they right for you? Yes? Start here.

I do a lot of work with telecommunications companies and it occurred to me that a webcast on 'bundling' I did for them last year might have some value to others. The concepts can certainly extend to many other industries, in fact, they are quite interesting when viewed through this lens. So if you are interested in pricing and bundling your products or services, you might want to scan this. I'll include a link to the slide deck at the end of this post.

So, what are the initial questions you want to ask yourself before you dive into bundling or a pricing restructure? Here are a couple to get you started:

• Do you have the margin for it? Sometimes bundles just don't make sense. If they are not for you, don't push it.
• Do you have capacity? This can be defined however you want: time, inventory, capital, etc.
• What are your competitive pressures? Simple question. How does competition affect your pricing?
• What are the goals for your bundling? Simple questions #2. What are your reasons for wanting/needing to bundle?

Reasons to bundle vary. Below are some to consider that MAY apply to you or could if you worked at it.

• Stickiness: in most industries customers in bundles with more products reduces churn significantly!
• Customer expectation: bundles are easy (think Extra Value Meals and 2for1 deals). Customers like them.
• Easier to sell/explain/understand: putting stuff together that makes sense is easy to buy and sell.
• Increase revenue: Often bundles are used to raise Average Revenue per User/Customer.

Be relevant if you decide this approach is right for you.

• Talk about what is important to customer, not what is important to you.
• Create products that show you are concerned about customers needs.
• Educate them concerning products and services they want or need.

Finally, be creative with your creative!

• Be thoughtful about your customer. Use words & graphics that connect to them & pull them in.
• Be consistent with your look & message. About when you are getting bored, they are starting to hear.
• Know the hot buttons and push them. What matters to customers? It shows you care and are listening to them.

Click here to read or download slide deck.

Good luck. Please let me know what questions you asked yourself as you considered this for your industry or business.

Do you feel safe to make the wrong decision?

Trust is the cornerstone of a good company, and a good family for that matter. Many fathers celebrated yesterday and I’d be willing to say that many cards had words similar to “thanks for helping, protecting and loving us.” I’m glad so many fathers are deserving of such praise.

Though companies are NOT families, they need many of the same things from their leader (whether female or male): assistance, safety and love, which are the foundation for trust.

If you are a manager at any level, you are entrusted with the care of those you manage. They need to trust you. You need to trust them. This is never a one-way street and it always starts with the leader. Always.

This can be somewhat scary if you are a new leader or just starting to build your culture. You’ll feel exposed. If you do, then you’re doing this right.

When your staff feels safe to make a tough decision because they know there's a trust safety net should things go wrong, productivity will soar – theirs and yours.

Need more upside? Decisions will get better because trust leads to more open feedback on the front end, which leads to better results. Obviously, part of trust is holding people accountable to their expectations. Expectations provide the guidance everyone needs to be successful.

The best news of all is trust works for everyone from marketers to technicians regardless of industry.

I've heard many great stories about how trust has been demonstrated. What are some of yours?

Joyous impatience

My Mom gave me a cup for high school graduation that said "God grant me patience...and HURRY!" I didn't yet recognize just how impatient I was. But she knew and I soon learned.

As a marketer or product developer, always remember: impatience can KILL your chance for success in so many ways.

For starters, you need patience to create ownership in ideas or strategy. Then, you need patience to allow the plan to work. And you need still more patience dealing with staff when they say things like "do something different because this idea hasn't worked" when results are not immediate.

Over the years, I've learned how to manage my impatience (mostly). I even have found ways to use it to help me create urgency when needed - without going overboard. A sense of urgency is good, and in many companies dearly needed, but impatience is not.

Try these three things if you're impatient:

1. Go slow when you want to go fast. This works for talking and actions. Try it. Obviously this is scaleable based on the situation or magnitude of the matter at hand.
2. Find a healthy distraction to save you from yourself. Maybe it is a walk around the office, chewing a piece of gum or 10 push ups. Back when I could count my clients on 1 hand and worked in a home office, I would mow my lawn or take a quick bike ride rather than pester my clients. Almost always, after that 30 minute break - I'd have the email reply I needed to move the project along.
3. Work on something you are curious about. If you need some help, check out Ted Talks.

Seth Godin talks about impatience in his Seven Marketing Sins post and in his interview below. Enjoy. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sknuiFywKLM?feature=player_embedded]

Curious George can teach you to be a better marketer

Do you hunger to want to know 'why' about stuff? Not just your 'stuff' or your company 'stuff' but everything? The more curious you are the more likely you are to understand consumers, products and how they connect - or don't.

Be curious about things. It will extend to your thinking about marketing your stuff or leading your team.

What is your story?

Many have written about storytelling as a way to have an impact with your marketing message. Seth Godin has. So has Drew McLellan, and I am sure many others have. Please share others in the comment section, as I love to learn more.

I think they are correct and so do others with which I speak. Therefore, I wonder, why don’t more of us market by storytelling?

Of course I can only speak from the experiences and discussions I have had. What those two things tell me is that getting to the core of what your own story is can be difficult. Time to think and the ability to articulate your ideas are real barriers for some.

Beyond that, finding an effective way to tell your story is also a barrier. Although communications options abound, so do the filters people use to shield themselves from messages, however well intentioned.

What it comes down to then is getting others to participate in your story or maybe to retell it – or in today’s terms ReTweet your story. They need to connect to your story in a real way…to feel it. Your story has to be compelling enough for them to relate to it or, even better, to feel like it is happening to them.

So, how do you distill your story down so you can figure out how to tell it in a compelling way? That will certainly be different for different companies and people.  A starting point however is knowing what you (or your company) are passionate about AND what you are NOT passionate about. It is hard to tell a good story without passion.

What is easier: construction or destruction?

Why is it that when budgets get tight - marketing or marketing related projects take the first hit?

I am sure we all have our own ideas, but consider this not so novel thought for a moment. Is it easier for most people to demolish a structure or build one? Demolish, right?

Exactly, and that same concept is what is at play with budgets. Often CEOs that lack the ability to build an organization, or a least the vision to see what something could be, begin to whittle or hack away at what may be an organization's most viable asset - its brand and the people that craft it.

Often the root cause of the budget problems may stem from the CEO's lack of vision or inability to address a correctable situation with staff or product or both. That lack of action seems to often end up at the same place - the CEO cutting in places that seem 'traditional'. All that shows is a lack of leadership ability coupled with blinders for the big picture.

Organizations with the best people and ideas win. That is not novel or new, but it does seem to be ignored a great deal of the time by far too many business 'leaders'.