Hey, Me too!

Out and about the other day, overheard and observed an interesting conversation.

A group of men, were just sitting around sharing basic conversation. One fellow remarks, " Say did you see that NASCAR race the other day"? "Nope", the other guy replied, "I'm not a fan"!

"Well", said the other guy in reply, "Let me tell you.... on and on....

About 7 minutes later, another conversation was started, or should I say, another monologue took place.

We all do it.. sometimes more than we should. Getting people to respond to you, to accept you, to listen to you is mostly about creating discourse and equal, often sharing dialogue.

Talking at, talking over top and talking on and on isn't conversation. So, why do we keep doing that?

The Vice -President will see you now!

Titles are impressive.
The bigger the Title, the more impressive!

I know of several companies who have a CEO, a CFO, and a President. No employees, just lots of Titled, impressive people.
Sometimes being important takes a lot of energy trying to avoid getting caught not knowing, not doing.

If you want to have a successful company or business, get a great idea, or promote a really interesting service or product. Do clever and unexpected things for you potential or existing customers. Don't worry about being caught not knowing, your actions will speak volumes about your "importance"! Leave your Title behind.

Word of Mouth Marketing

1. If you say something interesting, people will listen

2. If you demonstrate something that is unique, new or useful, people will watch

3. If you think people should listen or buy, because you want them to, you're in trouble

If you have always been doing number three, go back to one and two and try again.

Consider this!

The postage stamp for its ability to stick to one thing till it gets there...
-Josh Billings-

That, you can't build a reputation on what you are going to do...
-Henry Ford-

That, we learn wisdom from failure more than we learn from success
- Oz-

To be what we are and to become what we are capable of becoming is the only end in life.
-R. Lewis Stevenson-

Every Wonder?

Do you ever wonder?

Why everyone seems so busy and not much seems to be getting done!

Why women spend so much money on clothes and never have anything to wear!

Why some traffic lights seem like four minutes long and others seem like 4 seconds!

Why the girl at the restaurant takes your order and a different girl brings you another person's food.

Why so many retail employees wear communications head sets, but still can't find anything or locate each other- "Karen are you there?"

Why weekends seem to go so quickly!

And you are?

Had this funny feeling the other day.

While talking with someone, another person joined our group and asked me, "and you are"?

For a moment I wasn't sure! Should I give my name, my profession, my job category, my zip code?

Who am I? After what seemed like forever, I simply said, "I'm with them". Probably not the cleverest answer, but it worked in the moment. Nothing more was asked, or required. The conversation ended.

So, sometimes I am a professional, sometimes just hanging out, sometimes husband, sometimes lost for words, sometimes full of myself, and sometimes, "just with them".

If you ask the wrong questions to the wrong person at the wrong time, you'll get the wrong answer.

Tap into a "NON-EXPERT"

Have a problem?

I'll bet a one time or another you have tried an expert's advice, only to be frustrated with the results.

An interesting Harvard study indicates that the chances of resolving a problem increase significantly when one seeks information or ideas from a source with no formal expertise in the problem area.

Don't get carried away and ask Aunt Mary to do your bypass operation, but do consider asking others their perspective on various " problem" things. Things like, why your customer service isn't up to par,why your products aren't selling, why you kids won't behave, or why your house won't sell.

The possibilities are endless, just ask! Sometimes out of the mouth of....

Make it so!

Positive Thinking is what you think about a problem.
Enthusiasm is how you feel about a problem.
The two together determine what you do about a problem.

-Norman Vincent Peale-

The gift that keeps on giving

The business world of today has become very complicated. You have to deal with the strange whims of customers, keep prices low, stay ahead of trends and sometimes decide if you want to be all things to all people.

The internet has helped and hurt with all of these complications. You can be all things to many people with an online site featuring more product /services than any "real" store. Anyone can go online at anytime, to check prices, get product reviews and even find out what others think of your "business". Hey, your competitors might even list your prices and services on their site as a "comparison".

Yet in spite of all the complications, some things remain very basic. Like common sense and treating people fairly. Why offer trick specials or discounts that are negated when one gets to the fine print? Why operate on the premise that your customers are stupid and try to "trick" them into buying or signing up for something that has no real value? Why bother people with repeated phone calls and emails that offer one time only deals, or once in a lifetime opportunities?

Why? Probably because somebody in your organization thinks that these things actually work. Probably because if you try 1000 stupid things and a few of them work you assume your original tricky idea was brilliant. Probably because you or your organization have been doing this for so long, you don't know what else to do.

If these attempts don't work on you, why would they work on your potential customers? Well, I guess you gotta do something!

Leadership vs Managing

Here are some thoughts on being a "Leader" vs "Managing people" courtesy of author John Maxwell.

Consider:

People more than Projects

Art more than Science

Action more than Reaction

Risk more than Caution

Intuition more than Formula

Relationships more than Rules

Vision more than Procedure

Houdini Solution

Houdini, most people know, was quite an escape artist. Not a magician, but an illusionist.

Author Tom Schenck, suggests that by thinking like Houdini, we can solve most business problems and dilemmas.

How so? Houdini started solving his escape problems from inside. Inside the box, the safe, the water torture device, the coffin. Houdini was a master at directing all his energy to solving a problem, to escaping the dilemma. Most of us are consumed or at least often side tracked with the burden or difficult of our problems, our "boxes". So, we can't get out.

The illusion we face, is the perception that our problems, our difficulties can't be solved, can't be fixed.We're trapped. With a little bit of hard work, persistence, and creative thinking from inside the box we might be surprised how much we can accomplish. That's the magic of thinking like Houdini.

WHY?

Why is one of those tough, but good questions that often runs around in our head.

Why did they do that?

Why didn't that work?

Why is this happening to me, to them?

Why don't they respond?

Why don't they buy my stuff?

Why didn't they listen?

The answer is probably very simple. Things just don't often go the way we plan, the way we would hope. People are different. Things change. No plan survives its execution.

Unfortunately we all seek answers to our questions. Especially if things don't go the way we anticipate. We often think, perhaps even believe there is one way, one better approach to all things, to all people, that might actually work.

What if all things are merely random happenings?

Success today is tomorrows failure. What works with Bob, is ignored by Tom. What Karen loves, Joyce hates. Tony isn't really good at anything, just lucky. Some kids are good in school. Some kids hate school. Sound too simple to be true? Why?

Can't get there from here!

Ideas are fun. Often times Ideas are goofy. Sometimes Ideas are life changers.
Once you have the "life changer" Idea, the hard part starts.

Communicating ideas to others can be very hard. Some people don't like new ideas.They don't like thinking of things differently. They don't like hearing things they hadn't thought of themselves. They don't want something new.

Ideas are fun. But communicating ideas to others can be real hard. Guess that's what makes the attempt worth the effort.

Wish I'de said that!

"Business only has two functions, marketing and innovation"- Peter F. Drucker

"I would never be a member of a club that would have me as a member"- Groucho Marx

"There is never enough time to do things well, but, lots of time to do them over" -Earl Hollings

"When you come to the fork in the road, take it"- Yogi Berra

Advertising and Real Life

Advertising is sometimes interesting- it gets people's attention.

Sometimes advertising is funny- it makes people laugh- makes them feel good.

Once in awhile, advertising in intriguing, it make people think!

Occasionally, advertising is educational, it teaches you something.

Often times advertising is ignored- no one pays attention.

If you, or your business don't have anything to say that is interesting, funny, intriguing,or educational, why would anyone listen?

It's no different than in "real life", isn't it?

Networking or Not!

There is a lot of talk these days about growing your business by "Networking". It's the, " who you know or who knows you" - concept.

On the surface, this seems like a good idea. Go someplace where people meet, exchange business cards, you talk about your business, they talk about their business and soon, you get more, "leads", more "clients". Or maybe you meet some new people.

The problem it seems is that most companies aren't very interesting, or very different. I have a cell phone, you have insurance, we all have cars, doctors, houses, cats and so on. So it comes back to the basics like, " its about the people". People do business with people.

Yes most people are fairly nice, but most people aren't very interesting or different. So, we meet ourselves over and over again, express the same ideas and politely hope to get different results.

Networking is probably a solid concept. On the whole it can't do for you what you can't do for yourself. If your product isn't different, isn't interesting or unique, there really isn't much to say, much to do. So, maybe "networker's" should look at ways of being different with themselves, with their companies, their products or services. Perhaps then, someone would listen, get excited about you and your ideas and then be willing to spread the word to others. Isn't that networking?