Successful Blog

The January SOBCon Report: Chats, Webinars, Soda Pop Parties, and Chicago Beckons

by

TwitterAvatar

Hi all!  Starbucker here, filling you in on all the SOBCon goings-on.

The Main Event

First,  SOBCon Chicago on April 29 – May 1 is rapidly approaching – our lineup and program is stellar, with the theme of “Building the New Leadership and Loyalty Business”.   Liz and I love this program so much that we decided to lead two of the 6 “Model” sessions ourselves, so we’re really looking forward to that.  Ticket sales are well ahead of past years (thank you!),  so if you are thinking about coming, make your plans now – remember, last year sold out.

(Pssst…Here’s a secret for you – sign up for our newsletter and you’ll get a ticket discount code)

Also, we recently announced our host hotel and event partner, Hotel 71.   We have rooms available at the great price of $169, so get them while they last.

The FREE SOBCon Preview Webinar

On February 1oth, from Noon to 1PM EST, our great friend Chris Garrett will once again be hosting “The SOBCon Preview Webinar“.  There, you’ll meet 4 of the speakers that will be at SOBCon Chicago (Me, Liz Strauss, Michael Port, and Derek Halpern), get previews of their presentations, hear more about this year’s event, and get a chance to ask a few questions.  We’ll also have a couple of surprises for you.  If it’s anything like last year’s Webinar, it should be an interesting, informative, and entertaining hour.   This Webinar is FREE, but the only way to get the dial-in code is to be on our Newsletter list – so if you are not signed up, do it now!  We’ll be releasing the code a few days before the event.

The 2nd Annual SOBCon SXSW Party (and a Cool Road Trip)

On March 13th, Liz and I will be hosting our 2nd annual SXSW party in Austin, Texas, at the Key Bar on 6th Street  This year we’re pleased to announce a co-sponsor, Jones Soda Co.  They will have plenty of their product at the event, and, as was the case last year, there will be some fun activities to go along with the great conversations and networking.   If you are going to be at SXSW and are interested in attending,  sign up for our Newsletter and drop us a note at sobevents@gmail.com, because this is an invitation-only party, and you need to be a Newsletter subscriber to get one.

Our friends at Jones have a cool opportunity surrounding SXSW that we’d like to share – they are looking for a blogger to accompany them on a RV “road” trip from Phoenix to Austin
Here’s what they are covering:
– Airfare from your hometown to Phoenix, AZ
– RV Road Trip from Phoenix, AZ to Austin, TX
– One night accommodations in Phoenix, AZ
– One night accommodations in El Paso, TX
– All meals on the RV Road Trip
– All the WhoopAss and Jones Soda you can drink on the RV Road Trip
– Airfare from Austin back to your hometown

If you are interested, contact Todd Martini at Jones at tmartini@jonessoda.com It sounds like a fun trip!!

The #SOBCon Chats are Growing!

Every month we’ve seen a growing number of folks participating in our #sobcon Twitter chats – just today we had a Twitter chat hosted by Heidi Thorne and Lisa Petrilli on blog inspiration, and it was a great conversation, with over 600 Tweets.

Mark your calendar for the next one – February 17th, at 12 Noon CST.   We’ll be Tweeting out the topic as the event approaches.

That’s it for this month!  Don’t forget, if you haven’t already, sign up for our Newsletter, so you are eligible for our Webinar, the SXSW party, and the special Newsletter SOBCon Chicago discount.

6 ways to stand out more

by

by Patty Azzarello

cooltext466496263_leadership
color-lemon

What is excellent?

90% of people asked will say they are an above-average driver.

When working really hard and doing excellent work, many people tend to feel that they are above-average.

I have had discussions with many talented people who are surprised to learn that consistently doing excellent work and flawlessly delivering on their job description does not make them a top ranked employee.

Deliver excellent results — that is a must.  But don’t expect that alone to make you stand out.

Doing your job really well keeps you from getting fired.  What makes you stand out is finding additional ways to add value to the business over and above what is in your job description.

Here are 6 great ways to stand out more

1. Generate Revenue
2. Reduce Cost
3. Improve Productivity
4. Develop Talent
5. Communicate
6. Innovate

1. Generate Revenue

Nothing will make you stand out more than having a direct impact on revenue.

For an executive, taking on a troubled sales region and turning it around, or shoring up a struggling product line so it becomes profitable and growing are the shortest paths to big career gains.

Not everyone is in a position to do this, but don’t be too fast to assume you are not in a position to impact revenue.

Here are just a few ideas:

  • Going on a customer visit and realizing that you could make small change to an existing product and have a new product and revenue stream for a new segment.
  • Doing customer support and finding a recurring new service opportunity
  • Being the one to search twitter for discussions of your company’s products and turning unhappy customers into loyal purchasers.
  • Implementing a system that helps sales reps close more business

2. Reduce Cost

So many times we set our sights on getting the biggest budget possible so that we can deliver the most value with it.

Sometimes it is important to step back and understand what is going on across the business and give some money back.  Get famous internally for being business minded, and personally helping with brilliant and creative cost management, that doesn’t sacrifice value.

It is critical for any leader to reduce the cost of doing the same things year over year.  If you ask for the same budget as last year to do all the steady state stuff and incremental budget to do new stuff every year, your credibility will degrade.

You need to self-fund some of the new stuff by reducing cost of maintaining current programs.  No one should need to tell you do to this.

3.  Improve Productivity

Every year, you should have one explicit agenda to improve productivity in your team.  Your team should be more capable next year than this year.

Some ideas: have better meetings, make project review processes more efficient, build a process for handling chaotic ad-hoc work, implement a better measurement and accountability framework, use the web for better employee communication…  the list is endless.

You should always be working on at least one productivity improvement for yourself and in your team.

4. Develop Talent

One of the things that makes people stand out from their peers is to be the one who is mentoring and coaching others.

Anyone in any position can be a mentor.  It is critical for managers to be on the look out for talent, and develop leaders below them in the organization, but it is also important to think about developing talent as a personal agenda.

Share your knowledge.  Help others learn and grow.  I have interviewed hundreds of people for management and executive positions.
The ones who talk about developing people without being asked was about five.  They stood out.

5. Communicate

Most organizations (any organization bigger than 1 person!) suffer from ineffective communication.  Be the one to organize information and share it with others.

I have been amazed throughout my career about how stepping up to be the one who consistently communicates scores huge leadership points, and is a stand-out trait.  I started this in the days of voice mail!  I gave weekly updates to my team, I copied my peers.

A following developed.  It evolved to email and web based communications over time,  but the important part is to share useful information consistently.  (Hint: I always found that the consistency was even more important than the content.  Set a regular schedule and communicate.)

6.  Innovate

Sometimes we tend to think of innovation as only inventing a new product, or getting a patent on a new idea (that can be turned into a product).  Why limit innovation?

For starters it absolutely applies to the above: generating revenue, reducing cost, improving productivity, developing talent and communicating.

Innovation should occur in all aspects of the business.  Here are some places I think businesses have opportunities to innovate: How your phone is answered, how you manage business processes with partners, how you deal with IT issues, how you evaluate the competition, how you use social media, how you bundle and price, how you re-use information…

Don’t leave innovation to “the lab”.  Understand your business at the grass roots level, and look for ways to make an impact.

Getting it done.

Don’t try do all of these things at once.  Pick one.  Schedule some time to do it.  Involve your team.

One of the reasons I talk so much about making room, and making more time is that you can’t do bigger, more strategic, value-add stuff, at the expense of your current job.

You need to find a way to master your current job and do really well it in less time, so that you make room for other things.

If you stay consumed doing an excellent job at your job you will not be seen as above-average.  That requires doing more.

What have you done to stand out?

Please share what has worked for you in the comment box below.
—–
Patty Azzarello works with executives where leadership and business challenges meet. She has held leadership roles in General Management, Marketing, Software Product Development and Sales, and has been successful in running large and small businesses. She writes at Patty Azzarello’s Business Leadership Blog. You’ll find her on Twitter as @PattyAzzarello

Successful-Blog is proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing

Social Media Book List: Real-Time Marketing & PR and UnMarketing

by

A Weekly Series by Teresa Morrow of Key Business Partners, LLC

I’m Teresa Morrow, Founder of Key Business Partners, LLC and I work with authors & writers to help them with their book promotion and social media marketing. As part of my job I read a lot of books (I love to read anyway!).

This week I will be highlighting two books; both are on the Amazon business marketing list and ones I my “reading list”.

The books I cover in the Social Media Book List Series will cover a range of topics such as social media, marketing, blogging, business, organization, career building, finance, networking, writing, self development, and inspiration.

‘Real-Time Marketing and PR: How to Instantly Engage Your Market, Connect with Customers, and Create Products that Grow Your Business Now’

by David Meerman Scott

rtm-pr-book-b

“We all know that opportunities and threats from the digital world often arrive without warning. They can’t wait for discussion at monthly planning meetings. Hell, most times they can’t wait for you to finish lunch!… Scott’s book provides a rationale to help you create real-time mindset in your own organization.”
– Bill Sledzik, Associate Professor, School of Journalism & Mass Communication, Kent State University

“The world has changed dramatically, and we have now entered a new, real-time era. Dusty business plans are now being crushed by right-now strategy and adaptation. David’s book offers the new road map to entrepreneurs, business leaders, and individuals. It’s made a big impact on the way I approach our business and our customers; the insight I’ve gained by reading it is priceless. This important and thoughtful book is a must-read to compete in the next era of business, and life.”
– Josh Linkner Chairman / Founder, ePrize and author, Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Unleash Business Creativity

About the Book*:

Real-Time Marketing means…

Real-time means news breaks over minutes, not days. It means ideas percolate, then suddenly and unpredictably go viral to a global audience. It’s when companies develop (or refine) products or services instantly, based on feedback from customers or events in the marketplace. And it’s when businesses see an opportunity and are the first to act on it.

Caught up in old, time-consuming processes, too many companies leave themselves fatally exposed by flying blind through this new media environment. You don’t have to be among them. Discover Real-Time Marketing & PR and get a clear path to navigate and succeed in the changed business landscape.

In this eye-opening follow-up to the bestselling The New Rules of Marketing & PR, David Meerman Scott reveals the proven, practical steps to take your business into the real-time era.

About David*:
David Meerman Scott’s book The New Rules of Marketing & PR opened people’s eyes to the new realities of marketing and public relations on the Web. Six months on the BusinessWeek bestseller list and published in 26 languages from Bulgarian to Vietnamese, New Rules, now in its second edition, is a modern business classic. Scott’s popular blog and hundreds of speaking engagements around the world give him a singular perspective on how businesses are implementing new strategies to reach buyers.

His newest book Real-Time Marketing & PR: How to Instantly Engage Your Market, Connect with Customers, and Create Products that Grow Your Business Now was released in November 2010. It achieved #2 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list and #3 on the USA Today bestseller list.

He is also the co-author (with Brian Halligan) of the hit book Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History and wrote three other books including World Wide Rave.

His blog – Web Ink Now – is ranked by AdAge Power 150 as a top worldwide marketing blog.

He is a recovering VP of marketing for two publicly traded technology companies and was also Asia marketing director for Knight-Ridder, at the time one of the world’s largest newspaper and electronic information companies.

David has lived and worked in New York, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. He currently lives in the Boston area.

You can purchase a copy of ‘Real-Time Marketing’ online from the author site or on Amazon. *this information came from the author’s website.

Next, I would like to introduce you to another book on the business book list on Amazon and on my reading list: ‘UnMarketing’.

UnMarketing

by Scott Stratten

“One of the most powerful, entertaining and knowledgeable speakers that I’ve ever had the opportunity to hear speak” – Justin Levy, Director of Marketing, Business Development & Corporate Strategy, New Marketing Labs

About the Book*
From one of the leading experts in viral and social marketing-market your business effectively to today’s customers

For generations, marketing has been hypocritical. We’ve been taught to market to others in ways we hate being marketed to (cold-calling, flyers, ads, etc.). So why do we still keep trying the same stale marketing moves?

UnMarketing shows you how to unlearn the old ways and consistently attract and engage the right customers. You’ll stop just pushing out your message and praying that it sticks somewhere. Potential and current customers want to be listened to, validated, and have a platform to be heard-especially online. With UnMarketing, you’ll create such a relationship with your customers, and make yourself the logical choice for their needs.

* Shows how to create a mindset and systems to roll out a new, 21st century marketing approach
* Marketing expert Scott Stratten focuses on a Pull & Stay method (pulling your market towards you and staying/engaging with them, leading them to naturally choose you for their needs) rather than Push & Pray
* Redefines marketing as all points of engagement between a company and its customers, not just a single boxed-in activity

Traditional marketing methods are leading to diminishing returns and disaffected customers. The answer? Stop marketing, start UnMarketing!

About Scott*:

Scott Stratten is the President of Un-Marketing. He is an expert in Viral, Social, and Authentic Marketing which he calls Un-Marketing. It’s all about positioning yourself as a trusted expert in front of your target market, so when they have the need, they choose you.

Formerly a music industry marketer, national sales training manager and a Professor at the Sheridan College School of Business, he has been running his “UnAgency” for 8 years which has become the place companies like PepsiCo, Red Cross and Fidelity Investments come to when they need help guiding their way through the viral/social media and relationship marketing landscape. He now has over 76,000 people follow his daily rantings on Twitter and was voted one of the top influencers on the site with over 200 million users. It’s the only time he’s felt comfortable being compared to Ashton Kutcher, P Diddy and Justin Bieber.

His book “UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging” became a national best-seller before it was released, and recently a Globe and Mail #1 Business best-seller, National Post, Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Amazon UK best-seller. It was also just named one of the top business books of the year by 1-800-CEO READ begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              1-800-CEO READ      end_of_the_skype_highlighting and one of the top 10 books of 2010 by Under30CEO.com
His passion comes out most when speaking on stage, preaching engagement and becoming one of the most sought-out speakers on the subject.

*courtesy of book website and Amazon

You can purchase a copy of ‘UnMarketing’ at Amazon.

I truly hope you will check out these books and please comment and let me know your thoughts on them.

Blogging By Using The Power Of The Eyes

by

cooltext455576688_blogging

By Terez Howard

A month or so ago, I got a Victoria’s Secret catalogue and decided I would get a pair or two of flannel pajamas. I didn’t really care if I purchased them after winter ended because I figured they would be cheaper by that time. But now, I cannot stop thinking of those warm-looking pjs.

Shortly after I received the catalogue, I noticed how uncomfortable I felt in my pjs when I was in bed. My pant legs always ended up twisted like pretzels around my legs and rode up as if they were short shorts. I got to the point where I couldn’t stand if my pants only started to ride up to my knees.

Then I remembered those flannel pajamas, the ones that had pants like leggings, nice and tight ones that would not ride up or twist. I needed them yesterday!

What those pajamas have to do with blogging

But this post isn’t going to be about my pajamas, even though I could probably fill up a post just talking about them. It’s about our eyes. Victoria’s Secret does something very interesting that I never noticed before.

That company provides pajamas for everyone. Skimpy lingerie to shorts and tees to lovely nightshirts to those flannel pjs that I like, Vickie’s really has every woman’s tastes covered.

That got me thinking about blogging. What am I giving to my audience? Are they getting a need satisfied? Are they getting the information they want? Are they at least being entertained to some degree?

We bloggers cannot write to appeal to every Internet surfer. But we can appear attractive to the members of our audience.

Utilizing the power of the eyes

They draw people in. They entice them. They make people go, “Hmmm.” Pictures are the start of a reason to read your post.

Tap that “Add an image” button in WordPress and upload a shot to your blog post. Since I’m a freelance writing mama, I am certain my audience would be interested in children. That’s why you will see family-friendly photos on my blog.

If you can’t take a few original pictures (which are best, in my opinion), there are plenty of royalty-free stock photo websites. Expect to pay a fee to free your mind of worrying about infringing on copyright laws. My favorite is iStockphoto.

The first words people read are headlines, telling people whether or not they want to read a post or not. Show people how they will benefit by reading your entire post in your headline. Give them a tantalizing reason to read what you have to say.

I personally look at headlines very simply. There are basically two types of good headlines: the ones that tell you exactly what to expect and the ones that make you wonder what to expect. Experimenting with those two will get readers hooked on the rest of your words.

What do you see?

What you see directly affects your actions. The same goes for your readers.

How do you utilize the power of the eyes in your blog posts?

—
Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She has written informative pieces for newspapers, online magazines and blogs, both big and small. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas. You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger.

Thanks, Terez!

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

Change As Influence: Get the Attention of Deniers, Followers, Dreamers, and Leaders

by

(Updated in 2020)

10-Point Plan: Influential Leadership to Grow Business

Change Is Influence

Every now and then, something happens that pulls the rug out from under us …
The printing press is invented.

400px-handtiegelpresse_von_1811
Printing press from 1811. Photographed in Deutsches Museum Munich, Germany

 

A golden spike in a railroad track connects what had never been connected.

449px-golden_spike_neil916
A second “golden spike,” identical to the original used in the celebration of the transcontinental railroad in Promontory, Utah, is on display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California.

A stock market crash blows entire economies to smithereens!

unemployedmarch
(The Depression) The Single Men’s Unemployed Association parading to Bathurst Street United Church. Toronto, Canada

Those same sorts of changes didn’t just happen then, they’re happening now.
Change is constant. If anything, the state of change is accelerating with our ability to connect and communicate with increasing reach and speed.

Change is the ultimate influence. When change happens, people respond.

Hiders, Followers, Dreamers, and Leaders

The quickest way to change someone’s is to behavior is to change their environment. Change the lighting, change seating, change the way you interact with them. Change causes us to reconsider what we took for granted. It can cause us to stop and evaluate the new circumstances. Our behavior is influence simply by encountering something unexpected.

How we’re influenced depends on our maturity, our world view, our expertise, our experience, and our belief in what we’re building. Our response to change reveals the traits of a hider, follower, dreamer, or leader. Here’s who we are and how to get our attention.

  • Deniers, Hiders and Whiners. When change interrupts and disrupts some folks try to pretend that nothing’s different. Some deny it. Some hide from it. Some whine but don’t do anything about it. They hunker down and do more of what they always did. They run their wagon trains across the country while their customers move to the safer, more comfortable rail cars that get to their destination much faster. They keep making huge books and printed inventory, while ignoring the faster, easier information available on the internet. While they’re hiding their profits drain out while their furniture and assets move to museums. It’s hard to find new ideas or growth inside a closed system that won’t pay attention.To get the attention of a denier, whiner, or hider, the first challenge is to show him or her the safe and predictable benefits of moving into a new world view.
  • Followers. Followers sometimes think they’re leaders, but their leadership is stuck on a set path. When they’re hit by an influential change — even a positive change — they choose to do more of what they’ve already been successful doing. Give the best person a promotion. Does she keep doing the job she left instead of the new one? Move a music teacher to a farm. Does he try to teach the pigs to sing?To get the attention of a follower, the first challenge is to show him or her the advantage of looking for new paths and partnering with people who’ve got more experience at testing and trying new things.
  • Dreamers. Dreamers often have ideas about change. Dreamers love ideas and no lack of imagination. They see opportunity in every occasion. Change inspires them. Some dreamers are lost in their dreams. Some fall in love with an idea just because they had it. Others are moved to action with out considering whether their idea has any traction. What they have in common is that they mistake the idea for a plan. As the Little Prince said, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”To get the attention of a dreamer, the first challenge is to show him or her the way the dream will benefit by learning from, planning with and including people who have built similar things. .
  • Leaders. Leaders carve their own path, but a true leader isn’t a loner. Leaders are learners. They reach out and reach up to build something they can’t build alone. Change is information and opportunity. Leaders understand deniers, hiders, whiners, fighters, followers, and dreamers because they recognize when they have had similar thoughts and feelings. They respect and honor the people who feel differently and choose words and actions that make change easier for them.To get the attention of a leader, the first challenge is him or her see the benefits of participating in what you’re building. Share your values and your vision. Then invite the leader to join in.

Change is influence. It’s our response that makes it an obstacle or an opportunity.

Change has always been a constant. If we make it part of our toolkit we can manage change to create influence in the positive direction. All it takes is valuing the values of the people we want to influence.

How do you get the attention of people who might not want to do what you need them to do?

Be Irresistible.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

The Single Biggest Secret to Getting People to Invest and Participate

by

Every Great Offer Has a Part of You Inside It

cooltext443794242_influence

Last week in Arizona, I had the pleasure of a “long-thoght” conversation with that great mind that is @MikeCassidyAZ on Twitter. We discussed how we both got where we are – the ups, the downs, the people we work with and the people who buy what we offer.

I had the joy and pleasure of being able to share with him the project that @starbucker and I are launching in the first quarter of 2011. The endeavor is what we’re calling the “New Leadership and Loyalty Business,” and one part in particularly reflects and expands all that we’ve learned in the five years we’ve been working with the leaders who share their time with us at SOBCon.

As I talked Mike through the genesis of the training program that we’ve developed. I explained the nuance and the thinking behind each question and each task set before the group in action. And as he walked with me through the vision, it was obvious he could see the impact and influence of what we’re offering. In fact, his reaction was similar to the one that keeps happening.

I’m starting to feel like Billy Mays saying “But wait! You haven’t hear the best part yet!”

What was so compelling about the offer that makes folks immediately want to bring it into their building? And I’m so aware of the risk of talking so much that I “buy back” the interest I’ve generated. Yet that never seems to happen.

So after our conversation. I spent some time thinking about what makes the new offer, the new idea that we’re bringing, so attractive and compelling that to a person folks are paying attention and asking to hear more and more about it.

And here’s the best of my thinking on what drives their attraction.

  • The concept has been years in the thinking, Thousands of hours have been spent doing it, writing about it, discovering the holes in the process and fixing them.
  • It’s based on the skills and successes that @starbucker and I have had with SOBCon and in our business careers.
  • We’ve been looking at the problems of the people we love serving and tweaking what we’re doing to suit their situations in ways that make it easier, faster, and more meaningful for them to be heroes at what they do.

In other words, it’s darn good and hard business thinking, but that’s not what makes it so compelling.

The critical part is that we’ve put ourselves into the risk not just the benefit.

We’ve built in accountability that holds us equally responsible with every member of the team for the success of what we bring. No skimping. We’re in — willing to lay our time, resources, and trust on the line to deliver a successful outcome.

Leaders want to build something they can’t build alone.

How do you get people to invest and participate in your business, your brand, or your projects by sharing the risk as well as the benefits?

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

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing