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How to Be Good Greedy for Your Brand, Your Business, and the People Who Help You Thrive

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Attracting Minds

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IT BEGAN with a conversation right after someone had handed me a glass of wine. The vibrant Sally Hogshead walked up and began telling me a story that showed me she livesher life. Fascinating is what Sally calls it. Irresistible is my word for for it. Some folks call it influence or attracting like minds.

It’s a pair of eyes filled with the curiosity and fearless hear of a beginner that’s out test-driving what wisdom and models and learnings already collected to try new ideas on for size. Kind of like when we all were captivating unself-conscious children asking questions like “Would a chair still be a chair if it only had two legs?” And everyone knows it’s not a test or meant to make folks crazy.

Appetizing. Appealing. Outright attractive … you pick the word that means “can’t keep away” to you.

Makes us good greedy for more.

What brand what business wouldn’t want to have and share some of that?

IT CONTINUED the next day with more smiles, more questions, more answers, more ideas. And there it was another single glass of wine. Hers this time.

The excitement grew as more and more people discovered the fascinating, irresistible fun of just being who we are and then tweaking that toward the people who help us thrive … customers, clients, friends, family, sort of everyone who know it’s not about taking a test or giving one.

THEN IT BECAME A PLAN when we met on Twitter the next morning and knew that we’d be in a different city, but the same city as each other again. So we set up a lunch meeting to be fascinated by the irresistible ideas again.

And in an email as we were blocking out the time. How much time could we set aside for such kind of thing? Sally would be on her way to the airport — so our meeting would be a risk of the very best kind — an airplane on a schedule versus a chance to have a truly unique, meaningful mind-growing experience.

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I wrote: You know what kind of risk taker you are and what kind of risk I pose. heh heh

She responded: Yes, I’m a risk-taker but ALSO I’m greedy, so if I get time with you, then I want more more more!

I chimed: We are so the same. You get all of my time you want … for the same reasons.

And then I added: Topic of conversation over a bottle of wine — they have a wonderful Sancerre — and title of a blog post:

How to Be Greedy in a Good Way for Your Brand, Your Business and the People Who Help You Thrive

She said: I’m so In!

Of course, I called ahead to order the wine. There would be two glasses this time.

And here’s what we gathered from that meeting …

How to Be Greedy in a Good Way for Your Brand, Your Business and the People Who Help You Thrive
by Sally Hogshead and Liz Strauss over a nice wine

We had left everything to chance. Well, not really, the atmosphere was outstanding; the food was delicious; and the wine was as promised. The conversation was ideation, sharing, and good greedy — filled with everything that is fascinating and irresistible.

Here’s a few things that came home with me about how to get good greedy for your brand, your business, and the people who help you thrive over and over again.

  • Get good greedy about offering the best quality experience you can so that folks can relax and trust that you care about them. When an atmosphere is well cared for, we can’t help but feel that we’re cared about too.
  • Get good greedy about trusting yourself and trusting that good intentions will win. Trust telegraphs itself as confidence and safety. Fear or insecurity have a hard time putting up barriers to communication when true trust is in the room.
  • Get good greedy about anticipating the company of smart people whenever you you get to meet one or two or two million of them. Anticipation heightens an experience and prepares us to take it all in. Smart people recognize the smart in you.
  • Get good greedy about making space for great ideas and have rituals for celebrating the heroes who bring them to you. Great ideas expand into more great ideas, but ironically they get simpler the more space you give them to breathe.
  • Get good greedy about gathering up curiosity and asking questions. Explore the mysteries of why we do what we do by talking about them … don’t just measure behaviors or deep down-inside you’ll be in the shallow end of the pool. Meaning inspires and moves people to action.
  • Get good greedy about telling your stories over and over again and inviting other people to do that too. Hearing a story gives us something to capture, cherish, and share. It helps us belong and feel part of a common history. Oral histories, parables, fairy tales, fables, stories are how we take ideas out of our heads and learn from them. Let us learn what it’s like to be you. Powerful relationships happen when stories are shared. .
  • Get good greedy about the urgency of your story and tell how much you rely on the folks who believe in you. When we’re greedy generous about sharing our vision, our goals, and our plans, people share theirs too. Passion is urgent even when the goal is long-term.
  • Get good greedy about finding ways to be your highest standards and raise up folks who share those standards with you. Live what you want your customers to value. That will attract people who want to invest their loyalty in you.
  • Get good greedy about playing and enjoying every minute of what you do. Don’t seek the hard road when the playful road will invite people to join you. People who are having fun doing something intelligent and meaningful are fascinating and irresistibly attractive.
  • Get good greedy about playing and enjoying every minute of what you do. People who are having fun doing something intelligent and meaningful are fascinating and irresistibly attractive.

And don’t forget the power of the simple invitation, reminder, excuse to reach out to a customer, a client, a friend to say “thank you.”

What ways of being good greedy are part of what you do to take care of the people who help build your business for you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Jim G, Mr. Detroit, and a Saloon Fight: What Makes You a Fiercely Loyal Customer?

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I grew up hearing fiercely loyal customers tell stories about my dad. Other such stories I lived myself …

I was about 20 years old, home from college for the weekend. I stopped by the saloon to see my dad. All the guys were razzing him saying things like, “Close the cash register, the Boss is in town.” I was grinning back, “A smile from my dad is all I’m after.”

Some guy from Detroit swaggered in like this was any old bar, and he was some hot stuff. The big spender sat down and ordered a 50-cent, 8 oz. draft beer. He chose the red stool to Jim G, a guy about my age, who saw my dad as his surrogate father.

I had just thanked Jim G 83 times for fixing the flat tire on my boyfriend’s car — he’d driven out 17 miles to help me when I was stranded on route 80. We met for the first time by the side of that highway just 18 hours earlier.

I didn’t notice the Detroit stranger order his beer. I never served drinks there. Everyone knew my dad didn’t want me to. By the time the guy got it, I was teasing my dad and talking to a Joey D. He was an old guy who knew me since I was still sitting on the bar with my feet hanging.

Next thing you know, Mr. Detroit threw a fist in Jim G’s face. They were having it out right there in seconds. My sixty-something dad flew over the bar, pulled the guys apart, and handed them over to a couple of friends. Then, as a deputy of the county, he called the cops to pick up Mr. Detroit for visit to the local jail.

It was then that I heard the story. Mr. Detroit had asked Jim for my name. Jim said, “I told him ‘You wanna know, ask her or ask her father.’ I wasn’t going to tell him if you didn’t want him to know.”

Later that night, my dad bailed Detroit out of jail, took him to breakfast, and sent him on his way.

In a small town saloon, personal and business relationships can’t be separated. You throw guys in jail and you bail ’em later. You feed ’em and let ’em know you’ve been there.

My dad cared about the people who were his customers and so they cared about him. He looked out for them and they looked out for him. Investment made investment returned. It’s the ROI of relationships — in spades. For me, it was like church, family, and Mark Twain to be there. Lots of others felt the same way that Jim G and I did.

What makes you a fiercely loyal customer?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Diagnostic Bias: Are Your Jeans In Your Marketing Plan?

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Joshua Bell, A Stradivarius, and A Subway Station

The Chameleon Effect is only one way we misperceive things.

Consider the violinist in the subway.

Joshua Bell plays his violin to soldout crowds in the most elite concert halls. On an assignment for the Washington Post, Bell tried a new venue — subway station in Washington D.C. Dressed in jeans and a ball camp, Bell took out his $5 million Stradivarius and gave a concert to commuters one early winter morning during rush hour. He filled the station with music for 43 minutes.

Of the almost 1100 commuters who passed him, hardly anyone stopped to listen. Only one commuter recognize him — she stared in disbelief. Most commuters kept on walking. No one seemed to care that one of the finest violinists was offering a free concert.

People had “diagnosed” the situation as unworthy of their time. Everything around and associated with Bell’s performance in the subway was perceived as having little value. Though he didn’t sound of no value, the way he was dressed and the subway station environment said, “This is street music.” The commuters dismissed the concert, and the man who played it.

I can’t help but wonder whether how many would have believed someone who told said that this subway performer was playing a $5 million Stradivarius.

Book Covers, Content, and Your Jeans

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You don’t need to be a psychologist to know that had Joshua Bell, wearing a tux, been on a stage in a fine concert hall, he’d have received a different response — even from that same audience.

I suspect we’ve all been misjudged in a similar way. What’s your “Joshua Bell” story? What did it teach you about business? My story isn’t that different, but there’s no violin.

Books are judged by their covers. That’s what covers are for — covers are meant to communicate the value inside. In Joshua Bell’s case above, the Washington Post was proving how powerful a “cover” is. A “cover” gets our attention so that we invest in the content.

You might say that folks are missing out when they overlook your great qualities or your great content because they can’t see past your jeans or your product design. . . . you might be right.

On the other hand . . . Presentation is an acknowlegement of your audience. It’s the quickest way to communicate that you know who they are and what they value. Audiences see the content more quickly if it’s packaged in a way they understand.

Are your jeans in your marketing plan? Should they be?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Image: sxc.hu

Work with Liz!!
Buy the ebook and find out the secret.

Related:
The Chameleon Effect: Can Others’ Perceptions Hurt Your Success?

Not All Customers Are Equal — Which Are Yours?

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Not All Customers Are Equal

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When we talk about clients or customers, we often mention them as if customer means “one who buys.” But not all customers are equal. Look at the depth and breadth of consumer offerings. Take in the business services and products. You’ll soon realize that customers come in more than one kind.

You can fly Southwest. British Airways, or take a private jet. You can buy M&Ms in all sorts of special packages and colors. You can turn almost anything into a refrigerator magnet now. But if you go to “In and Out” in California, you’ll only get a burger.

Traditional business models outline three:

  • Top of the Line Buyers
    Elegant, elite, one-of-a-kind, cutting edge. Stand in line, pay higher price, doesn’t mind a few complications or an occasional bug. These are the folks who stand in line for the first iPhone. Folks in this group go on vacations to places that other folks never see. Sell one for $$$$$/each
  • Service and Fit
    Value beats price. Relationships matter. Service is remembered. They look for their values as well as their size. Google is making this group larger as it makes it easier to find what we want in a world wide inventory. Sell more for $$$/each
  • Volume Shoppers
    Go for the discount. No frills. Don’t spend on what we don’t need. Lowest price. Generic is the same thing. They’ll give up service for speed and low price. Sell boxes and boxes for $/each.

When you decide on your product or service, think about which customer you serve. If you’ve already got an offer out there, should you be looking more closely at the customers you are reaching?

Not all customers are equal — which are yours?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Models and Masterminds starts the week of June 16.

Traffic, Readers, Colleagues — Are They Customers?

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Reaching Customers in the Offline World

The Living Web

As I put together the SOBCon materials for Models and Masterminds course, I’m thinking about the folks we call visitors and whether they’re really customers.

When I first started my writing blog, I had one reader, a friend who likes to read. Then I joined a “click traffic group” and as long as I clicked other blogs I got a related number of pageviews. Those clickers became the first visitors to my blog. I’m fairly sure few actually read anything.

At day 21, a comment appeared. Shortly after that a few folks started coming back. I had regular readers. Then I had 10 subscribers. I even knew who some of them were. When page views reached 1000/day and comments were plenty and regular, I put up some ads. I thought I’d make some holiday money.

I was confused.

I hadn’t really been looking at who was visiting my blog.

Traffic, Readers, Colleagues — Are They Customers?

When you look at the people who visit your blog, what do they do and how long do they stay?

  • Traffic – If they come in swarms following a link or bookmark and leave in a few seconds flat, it’s traffic. If someone stumbles a page and thousands come only to go away, isn’t that the same as people visiting a store because they were downtown to watch a parade? Traffic is noise unless convert it to readers or customers.
  • Readers – If each visitor reads 1.5 pages or more, you’re building a community of readers. If an audience is your goal, you’ll well on your way. If selling is what you’re about, you’ll need to convert readers into customers. Readers ignore ad that sit in the sidebar. To sell to readers, talk about what they want. Be helpful in solving their problems with products and services that naturally draw from the content you discuss.
  • Colleagues – Being helpful and solving problems can convert readers into customers. But look closely at your audience. Are they potential customers? If you run a “trade” blog — one that discusses the ideas, trends, and people in your industry — your discussions might be with an audience of colleagues not potential customers. Colleagues are unlikely to buy your products and services, at least not long enough for your business to thrive.

We can build a thriving blog that knocks everyone’s socks off, but it can be an investment of love and time that has no customers.

In a world where mostly bloggers read blogs, it’s a good habit to watch our audience. Unless we’re selling specifically to bloggers, our businesses will grow faster if we connect to customers outside the blogosphere.

How would you help a new blogging business connect to customers in the offline world?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Models and Masterminds begins with offline connections to customers.

Bad Strategy Deserves Bad Poetry

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Bad Poetry Night on Successful Blog

If you’ve got some bring it over.

I’m watching more than one company do everything they can to tell their customer to go away. Too many companies leave today’s customer sitting alone, while they try to think up “strategies” that will bring them new ones.

S-T-R-A-T-E-G-I-Z-E

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They said the latest thing
and I came to realize
This company couldn’t strategize
They chased trends
like fireflies

Like kids loose in a candy store
they search every candy drawer
and shake every magic door
pinning hopes on that one big score

They’re on the corner preaching
to customers who don’t their need teaching

They see the world with tiny eyes
and let their wishes hypnotize
They can’t even spell strategize

No wonder they always talk about customers with fear.

Strategy in the hands of those who can’t spell it is even worse than a really bad poem.

–ME “Liz” Strauss