“This is going to hurt you worse than it hurts me,” I’d hear just before getting my rearward region spanked into next week. Whenever I used to hear this phrase – which was shockingly regular – I used to think, “Then why do it?” I mean, can’t we spare some pain for BOTH of us by overlooking that little melted-crayon-in-the-EZ Bake incident?
Didn’t work that way. Found that out when I had children. It was one of those “upside down truths” that you appreciate with age.
Later on, my early sales training had brainwashed me into thinking that manipulation and aggression were actually the more tender side of selling. When various closes and techniques were being discussed one day, an older, quite wealthy salesman halted the conversation with, “I don’t ‘sell’. I just give people reasons to buy.”
From that moment on, it stuck. My whole “sales” idea got turned upside down (or right side up!). Earning trust, giving useful ‘buying’ information, and truly counseling people with the good and bad side of a product or service came much easier. Sales “closes” were more often the work of the customer themselves. This rid the anxiety of over-selling and gave sincerity to the “Congratulations” for making a good decision.
This approach allows you to be true-faced, not two-faced.
The wealthy salesman made another comment, more powerful than the first that proved he was ahead of his time. Ignoring This Shift Can Kill Your Online AND Offline Sales…
That path lead me and Hudson Ink into the world of “two step” marketing; first getting a request from a customer for more information, and following that with a conversation that would lead to a sale, or not. Either way was/is fine. Another bit of upside-down truth:
You get the sale by creating a customer; not the other way around.
Web Marketing further confirms the success of this buying pattern shift. Consumers can access mountains of information that didn’t formerly exist. Their new-found empowerment has led to a sometimes hard-to-swallow set of “old” sales and marketing dogmas. The hard-driving, “close early, close often” salesperson is increasingly frustrated. Websites that employ sales overkill are labeled “spammy” and avoided similarly.
Sites like Zappos, Amazon, even WalMart, realize that transparency aids the sales process. Relationships are built before the sale and increase closing (conversion) rates. Openness and resistance to “hard-sell” also increases referral rates and positive online reviews.
Customer Retention results soar with gentle non-salesy recontact. This is why we’ve seen Customer Retention sales absolutely explode in the recession-weary world. People want the relationship, and reward it handsomely.
Contractors who invest in Customer Retention are getting excellent returns now. (8% of your Total Marketing Budget toward Customer Retention can trounce any other 8% in any other media with its hand tied behind its back. Want a FREE in-depth report and free sample of ‘The Ideal Customer Retention Sales Strategy’? Click here.)
Lesson: When you craft and cultivate relationships, you forgo “hard selling,” though your sales increase. There are no “closes”. There are only “openings”. You merely continue the conversation, advising, “being there” for them, and gaining more business, faster, as a result.
Oh, the remaining sage advice spoken to me by the wealthy salesman? “Salespeople don’t sell the most; Advisors do.” More than a pithy comment, it’s true. Confirmed by MarketingSherpa.com in a recent study. Advisors outsell ‘salespeople’ 4:1.
Be an advisor. Then you too can be true-faced.
Questions:
1. Does your marketing talk more about you or about how you solve customers’ problems? (Change the “we” stuff to “you” stuff. Don’t be afraid to give free advice.)
2. Is your Customer Retention marketing budget more or less than 8% of your total marketing? (If below 4%, you likely have a steady stream of “forgotten” customers going to the competition. Click for a full Customer Retention report.)
3. Do you have “old style” salespeople or “old style” marketing that are sales-focused and performing less than they did just 3 years ago? Make the shift.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Fishing for Some Answers
Growing up, I fished a lot. Since my father died before I could remember, my uncle stepped in to be my surrogate. Plus, he needed someone to back the trailer. And deal with the bait. And drive the boat. I was more than willing since I had some ‘learning’ to catch up on.
Lots of days, the trip was valuable even if we caught nothing. This came in handy more often than I admit to other fishermen. We had a good time talking, out in the sun, and discussing, as he said, “which one of the 4,812 reasons the fish didn’t bite today.” As a career writer with Readers’ Digest, he had a knack for phrasing.
The top reasons – for which the fisherman had no influence – were the usual, such as water temperature, presence of food, and whether or not we were so blooming hot we had to move the boat or we’d burst into flames. (Some sunspots are cooler than Alabama in July.)
Yet the esoteric reasons for not catching fish were casting ability, bait presentation and lure retrieval. All this was the fisherman’s choice.
We eventually arrived at an honest conclusion. Shockingly, it impacts your marketing and your business, everyday, even among your customers and employees. Click for advice from two over-baked fishermen, potentially feeling the effects of Vienna Sausage. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
A NOT-SO PROFOUND OBSERVATION
When we didn’t catch fish, it was due to the uncontrollable reasons. When we did – you guessed it – it was skill, pure and simple.
My Uncle Allen has long since passed away, but the lesson stuck. We’re all fishing, all the time. In the upside-down logic of human behavior according to fishermen, we let the outcome determine who gets the blame for it.
Could be we’re fishing for a better job, deeper love, more respect, fewer hardships, more money, less stress, more peace. Okay, throw in rock-hard abs, whiter teeth and a magnetic personality.
“The reason I lost my last job,” said a recent applicant, “was because of my dumb boss and his stupid ideas.” (This same stupid guy is among the top franchisees of a company in the Fortune 1000.)
A televised weight-loss competitor said on the air, “It’s a fast-food conspiracy that keeps us fat. The food is too available, too fast, and it smells good.” Pause for smacking plump lips. “Plus, the prices are pretty reasonable. Something’s wrong there.”
What? To me, those are the very mission of the company. I was waiting for her to say ‘addictive’ which all of us in business are still looking to achieve. Soon as I can figure out how to get people hooked on Hudson Ink, I’ll let you know. I’m not above attempting hypnosis.
So, what are you looking to ‘fix’ this year? And is that fix within your control… or outside of it?
Do you believe your increase or decrease in leads is solely due to the weather? Partner with the weather by forcing early season adopters. Tempt late season procrastinators with close outs. Increase your efficiency in peak season to do more with fewer people. There are ways around this.
Do you believe your town is “just not big enough” to grow your business? Then add up the cumulative sales of all your competitors. That’s your market. You just figure how hard you want to work to go get it.
Do you feel marketing is a waste of time and effort, because your sales ‘really’ come from ‘word of mouth’? Then name ONE company that’s successful without marketing. Wait – if they have a sign, a logo, or can be found online, they’re marketing.
Do you believe just having a website is ‘good enough’ and if people want you, they’ll find you? Then consider that 64% of home service sales are now researched online first, before they ever call you. Also, your online reputation can turn hundreds of leads from EVER calling you in the first place. Your web marketing must enter the ‘new’ phase of human behavior.
What’s your biggest marketing problem or challenge for 2011? Don’t hold back. We all have them, me included. (Contrary to my publicly manipulated reputation, I falter and stink up the marketing joint too. But don’t worry – you don’t pay for those, I DO. The information/advice you get here was gathered from a variety of blunders and experiments. )
So how do you end this sentence: “My biggest marketing challenge is…”. Click to send it to us. We’re happy to lend guidance. That’s why we’re here.
Free advice: Keep fishing. It’s impossible to catch anything with your bait still in the boat.Happy Fishing.
P.S. I’ll be speaking at the ACCA National Conference again this year, for which I appreciate the opportunity. If you’re going and plan to sit in during the ONE TIME ONLY “Web Marketing Avalanche Formula” click here so I can come meet and greet you. I’ll do what I can to bend favors in your general direction!
Lots of days, the trip was valuable even if we caught nothing. This came in handy more often than I admit to other fishermen. We had a good time talking, out in the sun, and discussing, as he said, “which one of the 4,812 reasons the fish didn’t bite today.” As a career writer with Readers’ Digest, he had a knack for phrasing.
The top reasons – for which the fisherman had no influence – were the usual, such as water temperature, presence of food, and whether or not we were so blooming hot we had to move the boat or we’d burst into flames. (Some sunspots are cooler than Alabama in July.)
Yet the esoteric reasons for not catching fish were casting ability, bait presentation and lure retrieval. All this was the fisherman’s choice.
We eventually arrived at an honest conclusion. Shockingly, it impacts your marketing and your business, everyday, even among your customers and employees. Click for advice from two over-baked fishermen, potentially feeling the effects of Vienna Sausage. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
A NOT-SO PROFOUND OBSERVATION
When we didn’t catch fish, it was due to the uncontrollable reasons. When we did – you guessed it – it was skill, pure and simple.
My Uncle Allen has long since passed away, but the lesson stuck. We’re all fishing, all the time. In the upside-down logic of human behavior according to fishermen, we let the outcome determine who gets the blame for it.
Could be we’re fishing for a better job, deeper love, more respect, fewer hardships, more money, less stress, more peace. Okay, throw in rock-hard abs, whiter teeth and a magnetic personality.
“The reason I lost my last job,” said a recent applicant, “was because of my dumb boss and his stupid ideas.” (This same stupid guy is among the top franchisees of a company in the Fortune 1000.)
A televised weight-loss competitor said on the air, “It’s a fast-food conspiracy that keeps us fat. The food is too available, too fast, and it smells good.” Pause for smacking plump lips. “Plus, the prices are pretty reasonable. Something’s wrong there.”
What? To me, those are the very mission of the company. I was waiting for her to say ‘addictive’ which all of us in business are still looking to achieve. Soon as I can figure out how to get people hooked on Hudson Ink, I’ll let you know. I’m not above attempting hypnosis.
So, what are you looking to ‘fix’ this year? And is that fix within your control… or outside of it?
Do you believe your increase or decrease in leads is solely due to the weather? Partner with the weather by forcing early season adopters. Tempt late season procrastinators with close outs. Increase your efficiency in peak season to do more with fewer people. There are ways around this.
Do you believe your town is “just not big enough” to grow your business? Then add up the cumulative sales of all your competitors. That’s your market. You just figure how hard you want to work to go get it.
Do you feel marketing is a waste of time and effort, because your sales ‘really’ come from ‘word of mouth’? Then name ONE company that’s successful without marketing. Wait – if they have a sign, a logo, or can be found online, they’re marketing.
Do you believe just having a website is ‘good enough’ and if people want you, they’ll find you? Then consider that 64% of home service sales are now researched online first, before they ever call you. Also, your online reputation can turn hundreds of leads from EVER calling you in the first place. Your web marketing must enter the ‘new’ phase of human behavior.
What’s your biggest marketing problem or challenge for 2011? Don’t hold back. We all have them, me included. (Contrary to my publicly manipulated reputation, I falter and stink up the marketing joint too. But don’t worry – you don’t pay for those, I DO. The information/advice you get here was gathered from a variety of blunders and experiments. )
So how do you end this sentence: “My biggest marketing challenge is…”. Click to send it to us. We’re happy to lend guidance. That’s why we’re here.
Free advice: Keep fishing. It’s impossible to catch anything with your bait still in the boat.Happy Fishing.
P.S. I’ll be speaking at the ACCA National Conference again this year, for which I appreciate the opportunity. If you’re going and plan to sit in during the ONE TIME ONLY “Web Marketing Avalanche Formula” click here so I can come meet and greet you. I’ll do what I can to bend favors in your general direction!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
My New Year's Goals
I was glad to adopt one of my New Years Goals taken from a website that recommended: “eat breakfast like a king, dinner like a beggar.” I interpreted that to mean eat a small dinner, but not necessarily out of a trashcan with a glass of cooking sherry.
Anyway, this morning I followed the breakfast advice with a friend. Somewhere between his first and second egg, he mentioned that his college-aged daughter needed to curb her spending. Turns out, that even with a good allowance, she was over-spending on clothes.
“It’s unbelievable” he said, mopping his wheat toast across the plate, “she has many clothes in her closet, with tags still on them, unworn.” He shook his head. I added a comment or two, since I too have a daughter who believes designer clothes are near the top of the "Needs Pyramid”, just above oxygen.
We determined that women have some ancient biological compulsion for new clothes, different hair, and small shiny objects.
We admitted that we’d not changed our basic “look” for about 20 years. Same hair, shirt style, and jean brand. Simultaneously, we announced our “jean size” as clearly printed on the tag. I can’t imagine a lady proudly displaying her clothing size on the outside of the garment. I mean, even the “full figured dudes” don’t mind showing a 48 inch waist. By the way, all women will tell you they’re size 6, as if that means something.
This slight difference between men and women yields a significant marketing technique.
It may also ruin my marriage, so please don’t tell my wife.
If you look back at couples’ photographs, you’ll see the man has scarcely changed, except that job stress has caused his hair to shoot out of his head. The lady will have had 21 different hair styles (and maybe colors) since the photo was taken.
She may exclaim, “Oh, dear, I remember that blouse! That was ‘the style’ back then!” The man is incredulous because he’s wearing the same clothes in the picture, and potentially the same underwear.
I buy my dress clothes from a place that touts, “Quality clothing that never goes out of style.” If a ladies shop even uttered this phrase in a hushed tone, they would go out of business by sunset and mobs of angry but fashionable ladies would burn the place to the ground. I’m telling you, we’re a different species.
And this difference should reflect your biggest marketing shift for 2011. Big Question:
Who’s really doing the buying from you? Statistics say that 91% of in-home purchases (products and services) under $1,000 are transacted by the female. (Not ‘paying’, but ‘transacted’.) This drops to 69% for up to $2,500. After this, the man “acts” like his input is valued (a charade orchestrated by women since Eve and that whole apple fiasco) and ‘major’ purchases at $5,000 and higher climbs to roughly 50/50.
So, if the stylish, approval-conscious, thank-you note writing, sweet-salad eating, thoughtful one is doing nearly all the buying in your service range, who is your primary marketing target? Stay with me here…
Look at your ads. Is your message about “family comfort” or “cheap service”? Let me tell you, she may be a hard shopper, but she’s not cheaping out on clothes or her family. It’s insulting to put a “cheap” tag on her home and her values. Got it? Then drop it.
If your reason to advertise “Lowest prices in town” is just to get calls, don’t complain to me if you get a bunch of price shoppers. You basically begged ‘em to call.
Look at your landing pages. Does your website attempt to pound visitors with hard logic? Or befriend them with helpful advice? Does it use technical jargon, or display benefits that mean something?
Look at your newsletter. Are you talking about the greatness of your company and its glorious history? Save that for the company picnic. Tell buyers why that matters to them. No one likes a braggart, but everyone likes a problem-solver.
Look at the images in your marketing. Do you display a lot of trucks and tools? Great. Show that to the guys in the warehouse, they’ll love it. But unless they’re your buyers, get it gone.
Let this year be the year you shift your message to fit your true buyer.
1.Attract with emotions
2.Convert with helpful authority
3.Retain with friendly efficiency
Do this and you’ll have enough new business to make this your best year ever. Maybe spring for a new wardrobe. Nah. Buy her something instead. You’ll come out even farther ahead.
Anyway, this morning I followed the breakfast advice with a friend. Somewhere between his first and second egg, he mentioned that his college-aged daughter needed to curb her spending. Turns out, that even with a good allowance, she was over-spending on clothes.
“It’s unbelievable” he said, mopping his wheat toast across the plate, “she has many clothes in her closet, with tags still on them, unworn.” He shook his head. I added a comment or two, since I too have a daughter who believes designer clothes are near the top of the "Needs Pyramid”, just above oxygen.
We determined that women have some ancient biological compulsion for new clothes, different hair, and small shiny objects.
We admitted that we’d not changed our basic “look” for about 20 years. Same hair, shirt style, and jean brand. Simultaneously, we announced our “jean size” as clearly printed on the tag. I can’t imagine a lady proudly displaying her clothing size on the outside of the garment. I mean, even the “full figured dudes” don’t mind showing a 48 inch waist. By the way, all women will tell you they’re size 6, as if that means something.
This slight difference between men and women yields a significant marketing technique.
It may also ruin my marriage, so please don’t tell my wife.
If you look back at couples’ photographs, you’ll see the man has scarcely changed, except that job stress has caused his hair to shoot out of his head. The lady will have had 21 different hair styles (and maybe colors) since the photo was taken.
She may exclaim, “Oh, dear, I remember that blouse! That was ‘the style’ back then!” The man is incredulous because he’s wearing the same clothes in the picture, and potentially the same underwear.
I buy my dress clothes from a place that touts, “Quality clothing that never goes out of style.” If a ladies shop even uttered this phrase in a hushed tone, they would go out of business by sunset and mobs of angry but fashionable ladies would burn the place to the ground. I’m telling you, we’re a different species.
And this difference should reflect your biggest marketing shift for 2011. Big Question:
Who’s really doing the buying from you? Statistics say that 91% of in-home purchases (products and services) under $1,000 are transacted by the female. (Not ‘paying’, but ‘transacted’.) This drops to 69% for up to $2,500. After this, the man “acts” like his input is valued (a charade orchestrated by women since Eve and that whole apple fiasco) and ‘major’ purchases at $5,000 and higher climbs to roughly 50/50.
So, if the stylish, approval-conscious, thank-you note writing, sweet-salad eating, thoughtful one is doing nearly all the buying in your service range, who is your primary marketing target? Stay with me here…
Look at your ads. Is your message about “family comfort” or “cheap service”? Let me tell you, she may be a hard shopper, but she’s not cheaping out on clothes or her family. It’s insulting to put a “cheap” tag on her home and her values. Got it? Then drop it.
If your reason to advertise “Lowest prices in town” is just to get calls, don’t complain to me if you get a bunch of price shoppers. You basically begged ‘em to call.
Look at your landing pages. Does your website attempt to pound visitors with hard logic? Or befriend them with helpful advice? Does it use technical jargon, or display benefits that mean something?
Look at your newsletter. Are you talking about the greatness of your company and its glorious history? Save that for the company picnic. Tell buyers why that matters to them. No one likes a braggart, but everyone likes a problem-solver.
Look at the images in your marketing. Do you display a lot of trucks and tools? Great. Show that to the guys in the warehouse, they’ll love it. But unless they’re your buyers, get it gone.
Let this year be the year you shift your message to fit your true buyer.
1.Attract with emotions
2.Convert with helpful authority
3.Retain with friendly efficiency
Do this and you’ll have enough new business to make this your best year ever. Maybe spring for a new wardrobe. Nah. Buy her something instead. You’ll come out even farther ahead.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
How Can It be a Happy New Year if Your Sales Are in the Toilet?
In the post-Christmas headlines, turns out Santa will actually lease out reindeer this year to make ends meet. As a result, Blitzen has formed a hostile Union (I never trusted him anyway; sounded like a Commie name) Elves are marching at the Pole, demanding pay during the off-season. Sickening.
If the joy of Christmas was only in retail dollars, then we’d all be reading “‘Twas the night before Chapter 11”. Not exactly uplifting. Yet if you’re reading the good news out there, your perspective may be a little different.
• Americans are saving more money now. There is more money “on the sidelines” now than the entire GDP. Gosh, I wonder what they’ll spend it on when they’re ready to buy?
• Some store sales were off slightly for retailers, but the numbers of customers was down. Translation: Well-heeled customers are spending more per transaction. Further translation: Customer retention for valued customers critical. Spending retention dollars trying to lure cheap customers, financially off-setting.
• 9% Unemployment – I ain’t bragging about this number… except that the market is flooded with qualified talent. When we were last shopping for an employee during 2.5% times, my best applicant would’ve lost at “Are You Smarter Than a Door Knob”. I welcome the talent pool available. Probably time to “better the flock” for all of you.
• Recessions Breed Ingenuity and Efficiency. Good. Saving money, extending access, bumping “reasons to buy” benefits, increasing and rewarding retention… all good. Marginal contractors, those “afraid” to market, those who think “selling” is somehow beneath them will apply for jobs at those who don’t.
• In-home service contracting repair business actually increases – Why? Less elective replacement means more repairs. Pent up demand WILL cause a surge later. I’m no analyst, so no debates please. I’ll ONLY defend the first part of that prediction, which is reason enough to be clamoring for customers now.
Other Examples Of Sales And Marketing Lunacy For 2011
• Trying to say you’re different and better without proving either. Consumers are sick of trying to make your sales case for you. They don’t have time. You’d better be clear, repetitive and focused with your USP.
• Hoping customers will trust you and call you with no indication they should. Amateur ads look like ran them. (Hint: “Amateurs”.) Worn out claims with zero supporting evidence is what everybody else does. Prove the opposite: Use more testimonials than ever, laud your awards, plaster credible logos, boost guarantees. Run amateurs back in the corner. This economy will bring out lots of one-truck fast-buck contractors. If you blend in with them, to your market, you’re one of them. Good luck with that.
• Attempting to be found while playing hide and seek. If you go silent this year “trying to save money” you’ll also save tons of money by keeping your service fleet parked. No one is coming to look for you. I don’t sell media by the way, so I have nothing to gain, but I DO tell you to be excruciatingly smart with your media and marketing buys. (I’m sick of saying it, but “Cluster Control” and other strategies we’ve mentioned for the past several months are working.)
• Thinking you’ll get superior sales results from average performers. Contractors can’t be lazy, can’t accept the “same old same old” can’t expect new results from old methods. Much of this is training. Much also by copying examples of super-successful (such as our interviews in Mega-Marketer Club which many of you say is MORE valuable than my insightful editorials! How dare you!)
• Trying to go it alone. I’m in three marketing coaching groups, pay for various memberships and off-site seminars attempting to get better, stay better. It’s WAY more efficient for me to get the blueprints from others than trying to make ‘em myself. So trying to figure out your own taxes, write your contracts, create marketing strategy, sales boosters, and efficiency tweaks all while you’re trying to run a business is crazy. Ask your Trade Associations for help, check their resource pages. Pick an industry event (or more) where you can learn AND implement strategies to help you out. This alone will distance you from the complainers, the followers, the marginal. Plus, just getting with other successful seekers puts you in an Achiever’s Mindset that you’d never get sitting at your desk.
Those are some things that WILL make for successful contractors in 2011. You will be able to hire some of the best trades-people in the industry this year. Customers – left alone by their former contractor – will be waiting to latch onto professionals. Smart contractors will network with other smart contractors and trainers to get even better. Sounds like emerging opportunity to me. Sounds like a New Year worth celebrating after all.
If the joy of Christmas was only in retail dollars, then we’d all be reading “‘Twas the night before Chapter 11”. Not exactly uplifting. Yet if you’re reading the good news out there, your perspective may be a little different.
• Americans are saving more money now. There is more money “on the sidelines” now than the entire GDP. Gosh, I wonder what they’ll spend it on when they’re ready to buy?
• Some store sales were off slightly for retailers, but the numbers of customers was down. Translation: Well-heeled customers are spending more per transaction. Further translation: Customer retention for valued customers critical. Spending retention dollars trying to lure cheap customers, financially off-setting.
• 9% Unemployment – I ain’t bragging about this number… except that the market is flooded with qualified talent. When we were last shopping for an employee during 2.5% times, my best applicant would’ve lost at “Are You Smarter Than a Door Knob”. I welcome the talent pool available. Probably time to “better the flock” for all of you.
• Recessions Breed Ingenuity and Efficiency. Good. Saving money, extending access, bumping “reasons to buy” benefits, increasing and rewarding retention… all good. Marginal contractors, those “afraid” to market, those who think “selling” is somehow beneath them will apply for jobs at those who don’t.
• In-home service contracting repair business actually increases – Why? Less elective replacement means more repairs. Pent up demand WILL cause a surge later. I’m no analyst, so no debates please. I’ll ONLY defend the first part of that prediction, which is reason enough to be clamoring for customers now.
Other Examples Of Sales And Marketing Lunacy For 2011
• Trying to say you’re different and better without proving either. Consumers are sick of trying to make your sales case for you. They don’t have time. You’d better be clear, repetitive and focused with your USP.
• Hoping customers will trust you and call you with no indication they should. Amateur ads look like ran them. (Hint: “Amateurs”.) Worn out claims with zero supporting evidence is what everybody else does. Prove the opposite: Use more testimonials than ever, laud your awards, plaster credible logos, boost guarantees. Run amateurs back in the corner. This economy will bring out lots of one-truck fast-buck contractors. If you blend in with them, to your market, you’re one of them. Good luck with that.
• Attempting to be found while playing hide and seek. If you go silent this year “trying to save money” you’ll also save tons of money by keeping your service fleet parked. No one is coming to look for you. I don’t sell media by the way, so I have nothing to gain, but I DO tell you to be excruciatingly smart with your media and marketing buys. (I’m sick of saying it, but “Cluster Control” and other strategies we’ve mentioned for the past several months are working.)
• Thinking you’ll get superior sales results from average performers. Contractors can’t be lazy, can’t accept the “same old same old” can’t expect new results from old methods. Much of this is training. Much also by copying examples of super-successful (such as our interviews in Mega-Marketer Club which many of you say is MORE valuable than my insightful editorials! How dare you!)
• Trying to go it alone. I’m in three marketing coaching groups, pay for various memberships and off-site seminars attempting to get better, stay better. It’s WAY more efficient for me to get the blueprints from others than trying to make ‘em myself. So trying to figure out your own taxes, write your contracts, create marketing strategy, sales boosters, and efficiency tweaks all while you’re trying to run a business is crazy. Ask your Trade Associations for help, check their resource pages. Pick an industry event (or more) where you can learn AND implement strategies to help you out. This alone will distance you from the complainers, the followers, the marginal. Plus, just getting with other successful seekers puts you in an Achiever’s Mindset that you’d never get sitting at your desk.
Those are some things that WILL make for successful contractors in 2011. You will be able to hire some of the best trades-people in the industry this year. Customers – left alone by their former contractor – will be waiting to latch onto professionals. Smart contractors will network with other smart contractors and trainers to get even better. Sounds like emerging opportunity to me. Sounds like a New Year worth celebrating after all.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Never Too Late
“Never too late” is what many of you told me about the last editorial. Indeed it isn’t. It’s never too late to teach your children, nor to learn from them, nor to be a kid again.
Got some fabulous responses from you, including Mark Onuffer who said,
“I think the biggest thing my children have taught me is that you can have children today with their morals, thoughts, and direction in the right place. They have developed into an upstanding young man and woman, by making the right choices, using their minds and their common sense. I am very proud of them.”
Good to hear. If you watch much VHI, you’ll find that Mark’s first comment is a well-grounded concern!
Offering encouragement to those with children about to leave the nest, Deborah Strafuss said,
“Communication happens across many miles, without words. Stay connected, stay open, be accepting, always be who you are – they will always come back to connect and check in.”
Great advice. And with any luck, they’ll remember where to send the checks.
Yet, in a response mostly likely to cause a grown man to well a tear, came this…
As I leafed through dozens of kind responses, I came across this one. Stopped me cold, which turned into warmth. You’ll see.
“I learned from my son it is okay to be different. When he was 3 months old, he had a brain tumor removed that was about the size of an orange.
I was still in the Navy and the doctors said Ernie would never be this, and would never be that. They said he’d ‘always be dependent on someone else, that he’d always need someone to take care of him.’
He had it tough. Other kids picked on him. And all those things a father wants to teach their sons… to throw a ball, shoot some hoops and pass along what my father did for me, such as working with my hands. I could not do those things.
Yet I will say, the doctors were wrong on a couple points.
He is now 36 with children, working on his 2nd or 3rd Masters and working full time. He can look at a column of numbers and add them in his head faster than I can on a calculator. He may not walk or see well, but he has a good life and is happy.
He lives away now. He is independent. We talk often, but it is never enough. I first heard the song “Cats in the Cradle” bringing Ernie home from the hospital.
What a blessing it has been to have this gentle soul in our lives.
As fathers never really let go; but we must. I feel your pain and pride Adams; every day.”
Thank you, Dean Soliday for sending that message to all of us. I feel I’ve already unwrapped my present.
And lastly, it sounds like Kurt Wessling’s daughter may have the key to life when he wrote...
”My nine year old daughter is teaching me to relax. Not everything is so important. We we will get through the ‘stress’ in our life. Her advice to me is good: ‘Smile every day!"
When I think of children and Christmas, it brings a smile. For some, that smile changes from one based on the giddiness of an old man with a fantastic story named Santa, to the godliness of a young baby with an even more fantastic story named Jesus. Gifts from both, no matter your belief.
And part of our gift to you is to ask you to give something away, today. Give thanks to someone who’s not expecting it. Give encouragement to someone who needs it. Give time to listen to someone who feels they’ve run out of listeners.
Wherever you are, its’ never too late. Merry Christmas.
Got some fabulous responses from you, including Mark Onuffer who said,
“I think the biggest thing my children have taught me is that you can have children today with their morals, thoughts, and direction in the right place. They have developed into an upstanding young man and woman, by making the right choices, using their minds and their common sense. I am very proud of them.”
Good to hear. If you watch much VHI, you’ll find that Mark’s first comment is a well-grounded concern!
Offering encouragement to those with children about to leave the nest, Deborah Strafuss said,
“Communication happens across many miles, without words. Stay connected, stay open, be accepting, always be who you are – they will always come back to connect and check in.”
Great advice. And with any luck, they’ll remember where to send the checks.
Yet, in a response mostly likely to cause a grown man to well a tear, came this…
As I leafed through dozens of kind responses, I came across this one. Stopped me cold, which turned into warmth. You’ll see.
“I learned from my son it is okay to be different. When he was 3 months old, he had a brain tumor removed that was about the size of an orange.
I was still in the Navy and the doctors said Ernie would never be this, and would never be that. They said he’d ‘always be dependent on someone else, that he’d always need someone to take care of him.’
He had it tough. Other kids picked on him. And all those things a father wants to teach their sons… to throw a ball, shoot some hoops and pass along what my father did for me, such as working with my hands. I could not do those things.
Yet I will say, the doctors were wrong on a couple points.
He is now 36 with children, working on his 2nd or 3rd Masters and working full time. He can look at a column of numbers and add them in his head faster than I can on a calculator. He may not walk or see well, but he has a good life and is happy.
He lives away now. He is independent. We talk often, but it is never enough. I first heard the song “Cats in the Cradle” bringing Ernie home from the hospital.
What a blessing it has been to have this gentle soul in our lives.
As fathers never really let go; but we must. I feel your pain and pride Adams; every day.”
Thank you, Dean Soliday for sending that message to all of us. I feel I’ve already unwrapped my present.
And lastly, it sounds like Kurt Wessling’s daughter may have the key to life when he wrote...
”My nine year old daughter is teaching me to relax. Not everything is so important. We we will get through the ‘stress’ in our life. Her advice to me is good: ‘Smile every day!"
When I think of children and Christmas, it brings a smile. For some, that smile changes from one based on the giddiness of an old man with a fantastic story named Santa, to the godliness of a young baby with an even more fantastic story named Jesus. Gifts from both, no matter your belief.
And part of our gift to you is to ask you to give something away, today. Give thanks to someone who’s not expecting it. Give encouragement to someone who needs it. Give time to listen to someone who feels they’ve run out of listeners.
Wherever you are, its’ never too late. Merry Christmas.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
School’s Never Out for the Learner
This can’t be right. My son is not really going off to college next year. Heck, it was only a year or so ago I was coaching him in baseball, when “winning” a game meant less than the snow cone that followed. For the record, I stopped coaching when the 9 year-olds had better strategy than I did.
Nope, he can’t be going off to college. Because it was only a few months back that I drove he and a friend to a dance, filled with anticipation and anxiety about actual dancing, or perchance a kiss. Giddy expectation, largely unspoken, filled the car.
Men – though deemed to have the emotional capacity of cauliflower – can sense these things. We just don’t talk it to death.
Surely, we’re not selecting colleges for my boy. Not the one for whom I was just shopping for the used truck that’s been in our driveway now for 2 years.
Fathers know, but find it hard to swallow. Those who work at working, selected to slay the dragon of financial stability and craft creation know: the time comes too quickly. We were even repeatedly warned, “the time will come too quickly.”
But as with our universal inability to ask directions when clearly lost, we admit and accept not. Our inner pioneer is either comparatively blind or comparatively naïve, “It’ll be different; We’ll figure it out. I’ve got time.” It kind of was; we sort of did; time is up.
Now, with swelled pride I watch this accomplished high school senior weave through the college maze. Yet I also hear faint strains of Cats in the Cradle in the background. A man knows.
Here’s hoping he becomes famously wealthy in record time so he can support me and my eternally-patient wife in a lifestyle to which he’s become accustomed.
Click for: 3 Lessons My Children Taught Me, 2 Lessons I hope I taught them, and 1 We All Keep Re-Learning
3 Lessons My Children Taught Me
1. “This isn’t your childhood; you already had yours.” We have all seen other parents “living vicariously” through their kids, which – to me – is a nice way of saying, “Hey, I was a loser, so I’m going to FORCE you to correct my mistakes!” This of course, renders them a bigger loser. Will they ever learn? I once found myself attempting to create a museum-quality display “with” my son for a 5th grade project. I reeled back, seeing my own horrifically ill-designed volcanoes, and decided: it’s his grade, not mine. Thankfully, this extracted me from all future projects, except for the semi-regular mad dash to Hobby Lobby 7 seconds before they closed because the project was “just remembered”.
2. “The degree to which you object now is likely the identical degree to which your parents objected then. So how’d that work out?” Oh shut up. Next question please.
3. It is possible to learn new levels of love, understanding, and patience. Gandhi would be proud. When you’re young, you love your mother, and probably your dog. Then you love your spouse. And you think that’s it. Then your children come along, and a whole new wave of capacity appears. If you’re really fortunate, you recognize that God loved you enough for any of this to happen in the first place.
2 Lessons I Hope I Taught Them
1. It’s good to experiment. No, not with drugs or seeing if pregnancy will REALLY happen, but combine things that are not often combined. The “norm” really isn’t. Poke at an old problem with a new solution; who says you “shouldn’t” wear a t-shirt under a short-sleeved shirt? Try the oysters for crying out loud (my son once tasted dog food, of his own volition, when we were actually cooking steak that same night). Kids are going to experiment. I say let ‘em. Better with clothes and hairstyles than with car keys and alcohol.
2. Persuasion, Influence, and Decisions form your life. Maybe you should learn how to direct them, instead of being directed by them. This is a gray matter subject at best. I hope my children know what is trying to get “sold” to them and more importantly, how. Further, strong stands are often for movie heroes only, so I hope they understand that deftly-guided influence works as well, at a lower blood pressure.
1 Lesson We All Keep Relearning
1. Other people are really strange. Good thing we’re perfectly normal.
Yes, my son really is going to college. He’s naturally smart, handsome, comes from unflawed genetics, all that. So if you head the endowment at a high-caliber college where scholarship money flows onto the manicured grounds, send a link to your application. I’ll get back with you, soon as I face the fact that this is really happening.
Your Turn:
What Lessons Did Your Children Teach You?
Do any of your children work with you? What lessons are YOU learning from that?
Nope, he can’t be going off to college. Because it was only a few months back that I drove he and a friend to a dance, filled with anticipation and anxiety about actual dancing, or perchance a kiss. Giddy expectation, largely unspoken, filled the car.
Men – though deemed to have the emotional capacity of cauliflower – can sense these things. We just don’t talk it to death.
Surely, we’re not selecting colleges for my boy. Not the one for whom I was just shopping for the used truck that’s been in our driveway now for 2 years.
Fathers know, but find it hard to swallow. Those who work at working, selected to slay the dragon of financial stability and craft creation know: the time comes too quickly. We were even repeatedly warned, “the time will come too quickly.”
But as with our universal inability to ask directions when clearly lost, we admit and accept not. Our inner pioneer is either comparatively blind or comparatively naïve, “It’ll be different; We’ll figure it out. I’ve got time.” It kind of was; we sort of did; time is up.
Now, with swelled pride I watch this accomplished high school senior weave through the college maze. Yet I also hear faint strains of Cats in the Cradle in the background. A man knows.
Here’s hoping he becomes famously wealthy in record time so he can support me and my eternally-patient wife in a lifestyle to which he’s become accustomed.
Click for: 3 Lessons My Children Taught Me, 2 Lessons I hope I taught them, and 1 We All Keep Re-Learning
3 Lessons My Children Taught Me
1. “This isn’t your childhood; you already had yours.” We have all seen other parents “living vicariously” through their kids, which – to me – is a nice way of saying, “Hey, I was a loser, so I’m going to FORCE you to correct my mistakes!” This of course, renders them a bigger loser. Will they ever learn? I once found myself attempting to create a museum-quality display “with” my son for a 5th grade project. I reeled back, seeing my own horrifically ill-designed volcanoes, and decided: it’s his grade, not mine. Thankfully, this extracted me from all future projects, except for the semi-regular mad dash to Hobby Lobby 7 seconds before they closed because the project was “just remembered”.
2. “The degree to which you object now is likely the identical degree to which your parents objected then. So how’d that work out?” Oh shut up. Next question please.
3. It is possible to learn new levels of love, understanding, and patience. Gandhi would be proud. When you’re young, you love your mother, and probably your dog. Then you love your spouse. And you think that’s it. Then your children come along, and a whole new wave of capacity appears. If you’re really fortunate, you recognize that God loved you enough for any of this to happen in the first place.
2 Lessons I Hope I Taught Them
1. It’s good to experiment. No, not with drugs or seeing if pregnancy will REALLY happen, but combine things that are not often combined. The “norm” really isn’t. Poke at an old problem with a new solution; who says you “shouldn’t” wear a t-shirt under a short-sleeved shirt? Try the oysters for crying out loud (my son once tasted dog food, of his own volition, when we were actually cooking steak that same night). Kids are going to experiment. I say let ‘em. Better with clothes and hairstyles than with car keys and alcohol.
2. Persuasion, Influence, and Decisions form your life. Maybe you should learn how to direct them, instead of being directed by them. This is a gray matter subject at best. I hope my children know what is trying to get “sold” to them and more importantly, how. Further, strong stands are often for movie heroes only, so I hope they understand that deftly-guided influence works as well, at a lower blood pressure.
1 Lesson We All Keep Relearning
1. Other people are really strange. Good thing we’re perfectly normal.
Yes, my son really is going to college. He’s naturally smart, handsome, comes from unflawed genetics, all that. So if you head the endowment at a high-caliber college where scholarship money flows onto the manicured grounds, send a link to your application. I’ll get back with you, soon as I face the fact that this is really happening.
Your Turn:
What Lessons Did Your Children Teach You?
Do any of your children work with you? What lessons are YOU learning from that?
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Social Networking: Business Builder or Time Waster?
Last time, I mentioned the frightening reality of seeing 191 Facebook invitations. Even scarier than that many people pretending to be my friend is that many were people I’d not heard from since we “accidentally” swirled their head in the toilet in 7th grade.
I’d suggested ‘splitting’ the Social presence to a) Friends, family and b) Business. Then, my marketing mind and all 3 of its neurons went a step farther:
Seemed wise to take a poll on the contractor business case for Social Networking. And we got the responses. Oh man, we got responses. Some were a little ‘heated’. At least one was likely from toilet-swirl head himself.
Controversy forces truth and helps affirm belief. So, among the contractor readers out there, one thing came through loud and clear.
And that was a general belief that Social Media is a big ol’...well, you can insert your own word there.
Not so fast. There are a couple warnings - -
Do not defend the personal case for Social Media after reading this. I get it. Totally valuable within limits, each can define their own.
If connecting with family, linking with old friends, or a video of you going into a spasmodic fit after shooting Dream Whip up your nose “works” for you, go for it.
Yet if you disagree with the assessment or have an angle to share, we’d love to hear it. Link below.
The Results Are In. And they aren’t that pretty…
Here are the questions and the answers.
1. I think Social Networking is a great way to stay connected and I do not distinguish between business and personal. We’re all one big happy wedgie.
Agree: 11%
Disagree: 82%
Other: 7%
2. I think Social Networking is a great way to stay connected and I DO try to maintain distinctions between business and personal.
Agree: 73%
Disagree: 21%
Other: 6%
Conclusion Questions 1 and 2: Clearly, a separation of personal and commerce exists, should exist. Recommended: Create user groups for your business.
3. I believe Social Networking has brought us/the company more business.
Agree: 14%
Disagree: 46%
Other: 40%
Conclusion Question 3: A full 85.5% said they either ‘did not’ get sales or what they got was a waste of time.
Worthy pursuit from this conclusion: Find those who get sales without spending disproportionate time.
4. I believe Social Networking is mostly a colossal waste of time, brain cells, a contributor to A.D.D., and possibly a drop in GNP.
Agree: 34%
Disagree: 51%
Other: 15%
Conclusion Question 4: Between 50% and 100% more respondents felt Social Networking was either a waste of time or virtually impossible to determine.
5. I’d like to see how to engage Social Media for my business with a good ROI relative to money AND time spent.
Agree: 88%
Disagree: 6%
Other: 6%
Conclusion Question 5: 8 times more want this ‘ideal’ but are unclear how to get it. We’ve already got the solution framework laid out. “Automation” without mind-numbing input and resource waste is critical. We’ve hired a couple experts and vendors to complete. Contact us if you have input for this.
What is most obvious: Contractors ‘want’ to engage, ‘see’ the need to engage. Yet sort of like going door-to-door and ‘effectively engaging’ with the entire city, the time investment is currently unvalidated.
Therefore: have a presence, link between Facebook and Twitter accounts, change your pages daily, spend less than 20 minutes per day on this.
I’d suggested ‘splitting’ the Social presence to a) Friends, family and b) Business. Then, my marketing mind and all 3 of its neurons went a step farther:
Seemed wise to take a poll on the contractor business case for Social Networking. And we got the responses. Oh man, we got responses. Some were a little ‘heated’. At least one was likely from toilet-swirl head himself.
Controversy forces truth and helps affirm belief. So, among the contractor readers out there, one thing came through loud and clear.
And that was a general belief that Social Media is a big ol’...well, you can insert your own word there.
Not so fast. There are a couple warnings - -
Do not defend the personal case for Social Media after reading this. I get it. Totally valuable within limits, each can define their own.
If connecting with family, linking with old friends, or a video of you going into a spasmodic fit after shooting Dream Whip up your nose “works” for you, go for it.
Yet if you disagree with the assessment or have an angle to share, we’d love to hear it. Link below.
The Results Are In. And they aren’t that pretty…
Here are the questions and the answers.
1. I think Social Networking is a great way to stay connected and I do not distinguish between business and personal. We’re all one big happy wedgie.
Agree: 11%
Disagree: 82%
Other: 7%
2. I think Social Networking is a great way to stay connected and I DO try to maintain distinctions between business and personal.
Agree: 73%
Disagree: 21%
Other: 6%
Conclusion Questions 1 and 2: Clearly, a separation of personal and commerce exists, should exist. Recommended: Create user groups for your business.
3. I believe Social Networking has brought us/the company more business.
Agree: 14%
Disagree: 46%
Other: 40%
Conclusion Question 3: A full 85.5% said they either ‘did not’ get sales or what they got was a waste of time.
Worthy pursuit from this conclusion: Find those who get sales without spending disproportionate time.
4. I believe Social Networking is mostly a colossal waste of time, brain cells, a contributor to A.D.D., and possibly a drop in GNP.
Agree: 34%
Disagree: 51%
Other: 15%
Conclusion Question 4: Between 50% and 100% more respondents felt Social Networking was either a waste of time or virtually impossible to determine.
5. I’d like to see how to engage Social Media for my business with a good ROI relative to money AND time spent.
Agree: 88%
Disagree: 6%
Other: 6%
Conclusion Question 5: 8 times more want this ‘ideal’ but are unclear how to get it. We’ve already got the solution framework laid out. “Automation” without mind-numbing input and resource waste is critical. We’ve hired a couple experts and vendors to complete. Contact us if you have input for this.
What is most obvious: Contractors ‘want’ to engage, ‘see’ the need to engage. Yet sort of like going door-to-door and ‘effectively engaging’ with the entire city, the time investment is currently unvalidated.
Therefore: have a presence, link between Facebook and Twitter accounts, change your pages daily, spend less than 20 minutes per day on this.
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