Archive for June, 2007

Here’s a simple tip. Pick up the phone, text or email others instead of making assumptions.

Sounds like a stupid tip doesn’t it? Then why do I continually experience managers in a meeting, executives on the phone, and supervisors in the field, making statements that are so ripe for a simple phone call.

“We have a tight schedule this afternoon. An 11:30 meeting and then a 12:15 meeting down the street. I’ll show up a little early for the 11:30 so that I can make the next meeting.”

That’s the harder and more uncertain way of doing things. Instead, pick up the phone and tell the person you have a tight schedule. They will give any of three answers. I’ll be ready at 11:30. I’m running late, can we move the date. I’m free at 11:00 so why don’t you come over early.

The simple phone call changes everything.

Here’s another one.

“I know that Tracy will not agree with this project even though we’ve made these few changes.”

How do you know? Are you Tracy? Do you know what’s happened to Tracy since your last conversation? Maybe she’s been told by a customer that they are jumping ship to a competitor and now she’s looking at a revenue drop. Maybe she’s thought about the project and has new insight.

The obvious is then, to call Tracy and get her opinion.

Granted you can’t be a leach, sucking everyone each time you make a decision. However, in today’s digital world there is no reason to not to reach out. (A caveat: make sure when you reach out you reach out with everything thought out so that you’re making contact only once with all your questions. Being digital does not mean you can be a nuisance.)

Last one…

Traveling and running late. CALL, text or send up smoke signals. It’s not only good business, it’s polite.

A friend recently told me that “you’ll be the same person in five years as you are today with the exception of two things: the people you associate with and the books you read.” I thought about this comment for some time before I came to the conclusion that one element of this puzzle is missing and an even greater one found.

My first conclusion was that experiences must also play a huge role in a person’s future. To me, experiences do change a person, and I guess you can say that many of those experiences happen while you’re alone. That means that books, people and experiences change one’s life.

But that was not the big point. I fixated on the books part of the model, because over ten years ago I started to comment that books transform people because of the engagement time. You typically don’t pick up a book and finish in five minutes, as compared to an article in a newspaper or a magazine. Books require more engagement and therefore, are often remembered longer than articles.

Yet that’s not the point, either.

The point is that books can change the world in ways that innovative inventions do. Think about it. Someone can create something great and yet its true greatness often becomes transferable by books. Often what the person or group may have done gets elevated by the book.

Think books….think Bible, Torah, Koran. Many of the widely-spread religions caught fire not only by the people, but by the written text that helped to propagate the ideals. Wikipedia lists the following religions and population

1. Christianity 2.1 billion
2. Islam 1.3 billion
3. Secular/Atheist/Irreligious/Agnostic/Nontheist 1.1 billion
4. Hinduism 900 million
5. Chinese folk religion 394 million
6. Buddhism 376 million
7. Primal indigenous (“Pagan”) 300 million
8. African traditional and diasporic 100 million
9. Sikhism 23 million
10. Juche 19 million
11. Spiritism 15 million
12. Judaism 14 million
13. Bahá’í Faith 7 million
14. Jainism 4.2 million
15. Shinto 4 million (see below)
16. Cao Dai 4 million
17. Zoroastrianism 2.6 million
18. Tenrikyo 2 million
19. Neo-Paganism 1 million
20. Unitarian Universalism 800,000
21. Rastafari movement 600,000

If so many followers are powered by written text, doesn’t it make sense that those in positions of authority learn the skills necessary to make the same hold true to an organization?

“Want to change a company? Give everyone the same book to read.” -Charlie Jones.

Mark is the Executive Director of an association that focuses on assisting school districts with their busing. His target market is the management of these faculties to whom he offers services so that they do their jobs better.

He’s got two major challenges. The first is that he needs as many bus districts to sign on as possible to give clout to their programs as well as for political reasons. The second is that there are many districts were the operator is also the mechanic, the driver on two routes, and the coordinator of all the other ancillary jobs. About 25% of his 760 prospects fit this category.

Compounding these two issues is that he expects a large portion of the operators to retire in the next 5 years placing new candidates in the position who may or may not renew. Statistically the industry says the younger are less likely to pay the new invoice.

I asked Mark to play pretend. Picture in front of him is a 32-year old new operator who’s part of a consolidation in the district so he’s got two jobs instead of one. He asks, “why should I join?”

The summarized version is…

“We offer a mentor program were we assign a mentor that helps you through the year with everything from working with the Department of Motor Vehicles to purchasing new trucks. Additionally, you get a monthly newsletter with tips on how to do your job better, and lastly, there is a conference.”

“How much are the dues? “
“$100 for the main membership and we try to hook you up with a local group and that may be $20.”
“For the year?”
“Yes.”

Something’s wrong if you can’t get someone to sign up for a chapter with all these benefits for only $100. What’s wrong is the packaging. Mark has been selling products instead of benefits tied to the higher value.

There is only one high reason that someone would sign up and that’s to save money. The organization can’t make the group money (they can help with negotiations and packaging for funding.) However, the key here is that what they do saves time and energy, which translates to money…and money is something they can put in the bank.

What Mark needs to do to meet this higher value is to “monetize” what they do.

It’s as if the association asked you to place $100 in a slot machine. In return, the association would guarantee you’ll get back $17,000. Would you do it? Of course you would. In the association’s case, you can’t pay anyone $100 to work with you for the year and help you in the manner in which this organization can do.
Mark has to start selling like those infomercials. “Kerry and Sue make $5000 per month in their spare time!”

By joining the association, the same happens.

Next, Mark still has the 25% issue of the single operators who can’t participate in the other functions due to limited personnel. Here, he must tip the scales even further. He has to deliver a value to the member even though they don’t attend. For example, he can do the following.

• He can offer a telecast series that will focus on saving money for the operator. The series’ file is placed as an MP3 on the association’s website for down load. When someone joins, they get 12 months AND the archives! You’ve seen telecasts from $25 to $99 on the web. Mark can also offer a one-page tip program. Each month he will send you one thing that that an operator can do to save money. It’s concisely spelled out on one page and it includes something that can be completed in the month.

What he’s doing is delivering more value than the $100 so that if the person never shows, he or she still gets valuable benefits of membership. Remember he still gets the mentor, the newsletter and the access to the conference.

In the end, it’s about the model and how you tip the scales. Is your association offering more value that what you charge in ways to meet the needs of your audience. Done right, $100 is pennies or even better, insignificant.

Want to top it all off. Offer to the operator if they don’t get $100 worth, you’ll spend a day in their shop.

Michelle is a type of concierge for a public housing facility for the elderly. She coordinates activities, helps the tenants understand their bills, works on insurance and even gives them phone calls to notify them that the Food Bank is making a delivery.

One of her goals is to get more participation in some of the activities she runs so that her tenants don’t just die in their room.

The approach in the past has always been to market to the building events and to hope that people would show given the nature of the event. Picnics, speakers, tournaments: you name it, she does it, and like many “event coordinators,” some people just show. In her case, they just sit in their rooms.

Here’s how she changed her focus.

Michelle now creates a program and immediately selects a target number. “I want to have 14 people at this Hospice program.” Then she goes out and searches to insure she gets 14. Michelle does not neglect the total 100, but she’s now more strategic in her approach and more targeted. Instead of diluting her energy toward calling or marketing to 100 people, she now makes several calls to specific people she wants to attend.

The difference is each individual feels special and like in any sale, has a person taking the time to help them work through the issues. She’s taking the time to create motion towards the goal versus one big push or as in the past, small pushes that lead to, “Setting myself up for failure.”

Today she and the tenants both win as she’s more satisfied with her job and the tenants have a more fulfilling life. This is something Michelle wishes for all her tenants.

Some pointers.

A. Writers are looking for bites. So create them in advance. Such as, “My research indicates that mediated divorces take 40% less time, cost 75% less and generally are completed with both parties remaining friends.”

B. Remember when they ask a question answer with short comments that begin with, “Let me give you two reasons.” “There are 4 different types.” “Let me give you three approaches.” This strategy keeps you one point and lets the writer capture the essence of the message. Remember they can’t write about everything you say so by using this strategy you control the interview. Besides you won’t ramble. (If over the phone write down notes so you make sure you hit all the points.)

C. If the interview is in person or on the phone, record it for your own files and possible website as an MP3.

D. You can create your own statistics. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you’ve done 5 mediations. You can’t say you’ve only done five yet you can say that 42% of your clients selected mediation over traditional means as a respect to their partner, 61% of your clients felt that their children were their number one priority and 79% of your clients saw that by using mediation they could maintain their estate.

See how powerful the numbers sound.

D. Never ever ever use statistics that end in a 5 or a 0. Readers see the numbers as fabricated. 41% sound as if you’ve done your homework while 40% is a guess or rounded up-down. If you do have a number that ends in a 5 or 0, do the math to see if the statistician dropped the decimal point. 70.2% sounds better.

E. Think uniqueness. The more you sound like common knowledge the less interesting the story.

F. Use comparisons. The difference between mediation and a typical divorce proceeding is equivalent to a reading a how -o book versus a journal. The how-to book’s goal is to give you the power, the journal is about supplying you with complex information that’s been summarized and the author is still the expert.

Or

In this county alone there will be 3400 divorces this year impacting 8100 people. That’s the equivalent of 44 jumbo jets landing safely or crashing and burning each year.

Again, planning the “bite” ahead of time gives you credibility and enables you to influence people in a manner that is positive for you and them.

A great tool for collaborating online. Better than email. Check it out.

When I grew up there was Sugar Smacks, a Kellogg’s cereal developed in 1953. Today the same product, with no changes what so ever, has been called Honey Smacks. Obviously in the year 2007, having sugar in the name would kill the product. This simple change keeps the product alive.

Take a look around your business. What could you change to be more 2000ish, to breathe life into a product, position, or brand. For example, Product Manger could be Innovation Coordinator, Your Name Enterprises could be renamed, Your Name…Enterprises is so 1980s.

Have you ever had a good laugh over a child’s imagination? I’m talking about the kind where someone from some place did some thing that caused the table to break. That same imagination still resides in all of us even though the “system” causes adults to lose that playful innocence.

Here’s the story of child-like creativity pouring from the mouth of an adult. I can’t make it up.

When ending a lease on a rental property, it’s our policy to do a traditional walk through the building to look for damages. In one room it was apparent that the tenant’s dog had clawed at a metal screen; he clawed hard enough to produce puncture entries ranging from the size of the diameter of a pinky finger to the size of an index finger.

When we listed the damage on the exit report, the dog’s owner ran over to the window and said, “If my dog had done caused the damage, the marks would have gone like this.” Motioning a left to right horizontal stroke with her hand several times.

As if dogs have rotating shoulders and could even attempt the motion.

With a serious face she explained, “The screen was eaten by bugs.”

I think I was a little stunned at the creativity. Bugs, I thought to myself. If I had bugs eating through metal mesh leaving holes the size of my finger, I would be long gone.

Given that the tenant had used her creativity in the wrong environment, I’ve often been amazed at how during emergencies, such as paying a bill, a customer breaking a recently purchased product, an employee screwing up, causes “innovation” chemicals to trigger the brain creating wonderful ideas.

You probably have created a few in your lifetime yourself.

Imagine if you could artificially use this energy to create something positive. The next time you’re looking for innovation, try offering a troubling story to your team. Make it so real that your people might start generating ideas that are so off the wall they might work.