Successful Blog

Will Your Customers Define Your Brand or Will You?

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(Updated in 2020)

Photo by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash

10-Point Plan: Build a Brand Values Baseline

Live Your Brand

Before the Internet, when we were silently niched by geographic markets the conversation with customers was one way. We wrote, televised, advertised to them. Then they read, watched, or saw our message and formed their ideas of what those messages said.

Customers decided who we are from the messages we sent.

When the Internet opened up the two-way conversation began. Now we’re finding more and better ways to listen talk, and interact with customers directly. We’re talking on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and social sites we make just for them.

Don’t miss the opportunity in how the social business web has changed brands.

This shift in the way we interact with our customers has a significant impact on the theory of how a brand is born and who determines the character of a brand. We now have a huge opportunity to demonstrate our brand values as we claim them.

We can now define our brand with much more clarity and control than before because we can include our customers as we do. In that way we have a huge opportunity to take our brands where we want them to be. Here’s how to take advantage of this new branding power …

  • Define the core values that your brand represents.
  • Communicate that set of core values — a brand values baseline — to everyone you work with and for.
  • Check every business decision against that values baseline.
  • Celebrate and reward anyone who demonstrates your brand’s values.
  • Choose evangelists who share those values and encourage them to share their ideas.

Live your values and you’ll attract the people to your brand who value what you do. Ask the people who are doing the work what would just one thing. As your heroes and champions get more interested in the values that underpin your business, so will the people who look up to them.

A single meeting with the heroes and champions who love what you do can bring out the best in your brand in less time than a whole team from a huge consulting firm.

Have you found the way to define your brand or are you letting your customers do all of that for you?

Related
To follow the entire series: Inside-Out Thinking to Building a Solid Business, see the Successful Series Page.

Be Irresistible.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Beach Notes: Worming – Some Good Things Take Time and Patience

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by Des Walsh and Suzie Cheel

wormingrb

The bloke in this picture is “worming”, i.e. out to catch beach worms for bait. You can see he has a bag on the end of a piece of string. In the bag, which he is swishing back and forth across the sand as the tide comes in, he will have put some some berley, very smelly fish – which is why the bag sometimes goes by the very elegant name of “stink bag”, the smellier the better to entice the worms. He will also have a piece of bait in his hand and a pair of worm pliers to take hold of the worm that sticks its head above the sand and fastens onto his bait. Some people use a nylon stocking rather than a bag.

If the fisherman is an old hand at this he has probably discarded the pliers and just uses his fingers to get a grip on the worm and then haul it out.

Not a pasttime for the impatient: Des read where one keen fisherman declared he had taken two years to develop the necessary skills. But ask anyone who fishes off the beach and they’ll tell you the beach worm is the best bait of all.

Suzie Cheel & Des Walsh

Thanks to Week 261 SOBs

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Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

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connect-collaborate-communicate
joe-sorge
miss-britt
simon-mainwaring
spin-sucks

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

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Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

How to Avoid Using PowerPoint in 5 Easy Steps

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A Guest Post by Scott P. Dailey

You’re losing business because your presentation sucks, not because your fee is too high or someone else is smarter, more creative or more accomplished. You’re going in scared that you won’t compete and that same fear drove your preparedness and your crappy presentation.

… I’ll explain in a minute, but for now, wanna see 200 photographs of my recent business trip to Indianapolis? It’s loaded with killer shots of the thoroughly unremarkable office building I worked from. No? OK. Well what about video of surgeons removing the deceased section of my sigmoid colon? No!? Man, you’re tough to please. Oh I got it! How about I talk to you for an hour about how awesome my six-year-old son is at soccer? …

Seriously. How many of you are remotely interested in any of these topics, let alone eager to view, watch or listen to me carry on about them for an hour?

Now to be fair, maybe if some of my readers work in Indianapolis, they may take an interest in my trip to their fine city. They may, for instance, want to know where I stayed, or if given the right time of year, had I taken the time to catch a Colts or Pacers game. Maybe some among you have also been diagnosed with chronic diverticulitis and like me, had to have abdominal surgery to remove a damaged part of your colon. I bet that segment would want to engage me, if only to relate their experiences to mine. Or possibly your child rocks on the soccer field too and you’re dying to ask what position my son plays, so that you can tell of your child scoring the winning goal as time expired.

So what I’m getting at is that if I’m not able to relate on a visceral level that reflects directly on what’s important to me personally, I’m not likely to care very much about what you want to share with me.

If we know this and somewhere deep down most of us do, why then would we care about your long-winded, one-way presentation? Or an over-detailed dominating PowerPoint presentation?

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These pitches, sadly often aren’t about the prospect at all. It’s about what you think of your ability to do a thing or even worse, all things. It is nothing more than what your prospect sees all the time from potential vendors: an overtly talkative brochure, peppered with gratuitous look-at-me platitudes. But what specifically is it doing apart from forcing people to pretend to be enthusiastic about you purely because they’re trapped in a room with you?

Reinvent the presentation experience

In which of your 100 slides do you get me emotional? I ask because that’s actually where I want your presentation to begin. Flip to that slide right now and please begin. I’m listening. Oh your presentation doesn’t have a slide that stirs me? Well in that case, here’s your hat, there’s the door and have a nice day.

Everyone has an unnecessarily verbose and egocentric PowerPoint. I know of no capabilities presentation that is ever justified in being as long as it is. The problem with most of them are that they’re authored by our fear of failure, not our ability to solve the audience’s problems. And so I challenge you to be the anti-presenter! Be the salesperson who goes in there and kills it because fear of:

* leaving something out
* not being good enough
* not getting money

did not color your pitch. If you’re not going to win the business, lose it because you suck, not because your awful presentation messed you up. Here’s five things I do on sales calls that have helped me not lose the business.

  1. Never bring a presentation to a sales pitch.

    I bring a business card and the team that will steer the project and that’s it. If I’m responding to an RFP, my response honors (to the letter) the RFP guidelines and requirements. Nothing unsolicited is ever included. I never voluntarily talk about business needs nor present business solutions that fall outside the prospect’s requirements or curiosities.

  2. Research your prospect.

    I focus on key players and read up (on and offline) on what is available on each stake holder. I research their successes and failures and because what I do is Web related, I look at the BBB information, along with sentiment surrounding the company’s social and emotional footprint.

    It’s important to memorize these fundamentals because the people you’re meeting with are sure to be emotionally invested in the outcome of the gig, as well as their business in general. Exhibiting a good degree of knowledge out the door will help them see you more as an ally, then a vendor.

  3. Shut up.

    This one’s tough, because I yap a lot. But yes, I do shut up. I close my mouth and listen to the prospect talk about themselves. This is always the best of all available opportunities to sell yourself too because this is precisely the stage in the sales process where the prospect shows you their cards. If they’re talking about their stuff, you can be assured that they’re going to get excited talking about it.

    This is where many perfectly qualified vendors lose the business and never understand why they did. As the prospect is talking about their stuff, the manner with which they exhibit enthusiasm may be foreign when compared to the way you get excited. Doesn’t mean they’re not pumped. So don’t just match their enthusiasm or overdo it. Rather, replicate it using the tone and mood they’re using to convey it. Again, guide them toward seeing you as an ally, not a money-grubbing vendor. Be similar to them, not dissimilar.

  4. Ask Questions.

    Ask them questions that force them to talk more about the stuff that gets them excited. Try, when possible, to limit your questions to only those that relate to the topics they are most passionate about. If you’ve been doing great listening, then you already know what turns them on. Taking this specific action has won me more business and gotten me more jobs than any other sales method I use. And for the love of all things holy, be patient. The longer you wait to add your own anecdotes, the more you’ve got them telling theirs. The more they’re busy telling theirs, the more they’ll want to hear yours when your chance comes. Prematurely grasping for the microphone, or worse, snagging it before it’s been handed to you will kill any momentum you’ve been building in the previous steps. simply put: if you see what got ’em hot and bothered, well hell, sex sells! Make ’em talk about it more. Well done. No go cash some checks.

  5. Relate to them.

    Suggestion #5 is last on purpose. Offering anecdotes and casual social banter in the earliest stages of a pitch is a stupid decision. Imagine we’re at a party and you and your friends are conversing about the NFL. You’re a club. A clan. All equally vetted by the other. Now imagine I walk up to your group, unknown to you all, and dive head-long into a rant about the NY Jets losing their season opener. What are the odds you’ll dig me?

    Relating to the client is really all you’ve been doing to this point, but you’ve been the guy or gal humbly listening, eventually asking questions as you and your friends talk about pro football. After I have demonstrated my interest in you and most importantly, on your terms, you may then be ready to hear my take on a Jets loss.

    The time to crack jokes and secure social common ground isn’t when you first sit down. I’ve seen this over and over. Sure you’re a cool dude or chick. Sure you can slay ’em, but earn your seat at that table. Earn the right to be casual.

How do you relate with your prospects? How do you sell customers? Do you use a presentation? Does it work? What separates you from the thousands that do use a capabilities presentation?

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Scott P. Dailey is a Web designer, copywriter and network administrator. Recently Scott launched ( http://scottpdailey.com ), his social media blog that makes connections between social networking etiquette and the prevailing human social habits that drive on and offline business engagement patterns. You can connect with Scott via Twitter at @scottpdailey.

Creative Commons License photo credit: Geetesh Bajaj

Thanks, Scott!

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

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Cool Tool Review: Business.gov

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Todd Hoskins chooses and uses tools, products, and practices that could belong in an entrepreneurial business toolkit. He’ll be checking out how useful they are to folks in a business environment.

Cool Tool Review: Business.gov
A Review by Todd Hoskins

The Small Business Administration was created in 1953 with the charter to “aid, counsel, assist and protect, insofar as is possible, the interests of small business concerns.” Most entrepreneurs are familiar with SBA loans, but are unaware of the additional services offered by state and local SBA offices.

Business.gov is a collection of resources, designed to help small businesses (under 500 employees) get the help they need. This includes loan applications, tax information, licensing, and relevant regulations. Contrary to what many people believe, the SBA no longer offers loans directly to citizens. They act as a broker and guarantor for business owners seeking loans (currently numbering more than 240,000). But they do much more than that.

There are approximately 1,000 Small Business Development Centers across the US. The SBDC’s provide one-to-one counseling, educational programs, and financial analysis services. I was surprised when friend Mike Nolan joined the SBDC in South Central Minnesota. Mike is a serial entrepreneur and professor of entrepreneurship. Rather than launching more projects, he has chosen to help others expand and excel.

The site is much better than most governmental agency sites, but the online community could use some nurturing.

There are people who want to help you. And they also have something to gain – small business growth leads to tax revenue and jobs. Whether you are in the planning stage, survival mode, or a growth phase, find your local office and see what is available.

Summing Up – Is it worth it?

Enterprise Value: 2/5 – A great way to inquire where to help serve your local business community

Entrepreneur Value: 5/5 – Why not? Free assistance!

Personal Value: 0/5 – Extraneous government involvement unnecessary

Let me know what you think!

Todd Hoskins helps small and medium sized businesses plan for the future, and execute in the present. With a background in sales, marketing, leadership, psychology, coaching, and technology, he works with executives to help create thriving individuals and organizations through developing and clarifying values, strategies, and tactics. You can learn more at VisualCV, or contact him on Twitter.

How to Hire a Star

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by Patty Azzarello

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You’ll make a lot of decent hires, (and some bad ones)  but if you want to hire real stars here is how to find them.

Experience vs. Everything Else

Experience is the first thing we tend to look for but is never the primary indicator of  stardom.

Experience is only one factor in making a hiring choice, and in fact is one of the least important in gauging whether or not someone is a star — it can sometimes even be a red flag.

Experience matters, but be cautious to not be overly impressed if someone has a lot of experience in the area you are looking – and don’t make the experience the primary factor for your choice.

I learned this lesson very early in my career when I hired a guy for a telemarketing position which was a new function we were starting in the company.  I had no experience in telemarketing.  He had 20 years of experience in telemarketing.  I was impressed.

The problem was that the reason he spent 20 years in telemarketing is that he was not very good!  So he never advanced.

Stars don’t stay in the same role for decades.

Stars are talented and hungry.  They are on the move.

Hire based on potential not experience

Here are some of the important clues:

1. Advancement

If a star has been working for 20 years, they have held progressively bigger roles.  There are some big leaps and weird transitions on their resume.

When you look at their resume, you’ve just got to hear the story about how they went from working on a manufacturing line, to managing the procurement department, and then to running the customer service organization.

If you are interviewing a new-hire out of school, they have run the events program at their college, contributed articles to New York magazine, built a non-profit organization from scratch, or produced a radio show,  you get the point –They have a track record of doing things that were bigger than their job and more than their peers.

2. Mastery

If someone has spent 20 years in the same type of role, they can still be a star if they are a Master.  Look for proof.  If someone is a Master at PR, they will bring you many examples of how they created a market, got remarkable headlines, or drove web traffic exponentially.

If they are in engineering, they will be known for building or pioneering something important.  If they are in sales they will have a spotless track record.  All will have third party validation on their expertise, you will hear about them from others.

If someone is just telling you about their years of experience in the same role, and have nothing extraordinary to show you about their results, and no one else is talking about them, they may still be a good hire, but they are not a star.

Stars either move up or become a Master.

3. Ambition

Stars are ambitious.  They are going somewhere.  They don’t need you, they need a vehicle to get them to their next bigger or more interesting role.  (This is a good thing).

You don’t get to keep a star forever.

They will move mountains for you, and then they will move on.  Don’t be afraid of, or threatened by rising stars.   Stars are self-motivated to achieve great things for you.  Enjoy it while you can and then support them to move up and onward. 

If you hire with the assumption that you want an experienced person who will stay in this job forever, that is what you will get.  But you won’t get a star.

4. Really Smart

There is no substitute for raw intelligence.  Sure you need emotional and people skills too, but stars typically have both.  Raw IQ points count for a lot.

Stars are motivated by learning, and have a track record of learning on the job (fast) and advancing beyond peers.  One year of experience for a star can equate to many years of experience for someone else, because stars learn so much faster, and just go faster than everybody else.

5. They have a life.

It has always been interesting to note that every star I know and have worked with has had a life outside of their job.  People who are fully consumed by their work are usually not the stars.
This is true of both big executives and gifted contributors.

Stars find the technique to contain the job and get in done in less time so they make room to do more. They use some of the time to enjoy their life, and some of the time to do a bigger job – which is one of the things that makes them a star.

This topic of making room, and not getting fully consumed by your job is a critical factor for success.

Stars are not easy hires

When I’ve had the opportunity to hire stars,  they have always had less direct experience in the job than their competition. But they had at least a few of the traits describe above.

It is tough to get them on board because stars always have other choices and multiple offers, AND your hiring committee will think you are taking a big risk.  So no one is helping you get them in the boat.

The star is saying “I don’t need you”,  and your stakeholders are saying “we don’t want him”. You need to sell both parties, to get the person in the door.

It is very important that you are prepared to fight for them.

Eyebrows will raise when you choose  the less “experienced” individual, but if you choose a star, they will come up to speed very quickly and everyone will quickly and ultimately be impressed and appreciative at what a good hire you have made.

Stars are not easy to find

It is not realistic to think that you can hire 100% stars.  There are just not enough of them.  There are lots of talented people out there who will do good work, and you will need them on your team too.

Stars are hiding either because they are already working, or they don’t realize that they are stars.  You need to seek them out.  Sometimes you need to convince them that they can do more than they think.

The best way to find stars is to never stop looking.  Don’t wait for a position to open up.  Keep your eyes open for them, build relationships with them (you can’t have too many stars in your network at any level), and recruit them whenever you get the chance.

How have you found and kept stars in your team?

Please add your ideas to the comment box below.

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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

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