IMAGINE WORKING WITH JACK BAUER

(This post will make more sense if you're familiar with the TV series 24 starring Kiefer Sutherland as terrorist-fighter Jack Bauer. We’re new viewers currently watching season three on Netflix.)

Jack Bauer is a specialist you hope you never need. He feels that how doesn’t matter when there’s a why. When he thinks he's right, try stopping him. He may not ask for permission now or forgiveness later.

As Your Boss

Imagine Jack on a routine day. Picture him answering emails or folding the laundry.

If you work for Jack (or Steve Jobs), count on ever-changing priorities with unrealistic deadlines. Don't count on going home on time or maintaining personal relationships with your family.

Jack has your back though. He protects his team by taking responsibility for their mistakes. That's leadership. That's a way to build lasting loyalty. Jack doesn't hold grudges (though will make exceptions if his family members get threatened or killed). He doesn’t keep reminding you of your past mistakes.

As Your Employee

Jack works hard for 24 hours (without coffee or yawning) and then takes long breaks. He's moody. He's unreliable. He doesn't follow orders. He plays favorites. He ignores social conventions like politeness. He's demanding of his bosses, giving them orders of the "Just Do It" kind. He shouts. He — here's a shocker — uses violence against co-workers following their orders.

Jack doesn't follow the chain of command. To save time, he talks directly to the President.
Jack uses employer resources for personal reasons like picking up daughter Kim from the police station (and not just once).

What Saves Jack

We forgive a lot if we get what we want. Jacks track record saves him. He's versatile. He adapts. He delivers results on mission critical projects. He takes calculated risks. His personal interests (like staying alive) don't get in the way of making the right decision for his employers and society.

Even Jack's non-supporters know there are times they need him. They'll tolerate him because he goes beyond the limits of what anyone could reasonably expect.

Be Like Jack

Let's take lessons from Jack.

1. Keep learning: go beyond the "10,000 hour rule" because the next 24 hours won't be like the last. Jack knows how to set the email signature on his smartphone and finish a 30 second infomercial in 30 seconds.
2. Keep delivering results: Jack doesn't rest on his past achievements. He keeps proving himself, which prompts others to stretch themselves.
3. Work on projects that matter: Jack isn't who you'd call to a routine staff meeting
4. Go beyond your limits: that's how you find your limits and stretch them
5. Take chances: Jack doesn't know what might happen in the next moment but proceeds anyway
6. Act on your convictions: there are things Jack refuses to do because they're wrong. What about you?
7. Have a compelling cause: Jack fights to save innocent lives. What are you fighting for? How much do you care?

Just don't stay up for 24 hours. Leave that to Jack.

Links

• Five money lessons from Jack Bauer and 24
• Unintended lessons from three entrepreneurs
• 9/13: prepare your disaster recovery plan now
• Let piracy help you

PS Jack works by the clock but doesn't quit after 8 hours.

LET PIRACY HELP YOU: THREE STEPS TO TAKE

Attention is very difficult to get these days. Digital piracy helps spread the word and offers free access. Studies show that piracy is not harming the entertainment business. In fact, Netflix uses piracy sites to gauge what’s popular and worth adding to their service.

The record-breaking piracy of Game Of Thrones doesn’t concern HBO (see Forbes and The Motley Fool). Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said this about piracy:

Our experience is, it all leads to more penetration, more paying subs [subscribers], more health for HBO, less reliance on having to do paid advertising… If you go around the world, I think you’re right, Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world. Well, you know, that’s better than an Emmy.

HBO’s Advantage

HBO gets credit for each pirated copy. Downloaders want the original. A variation — say  Games of Thrones — might fool people temporarily.

If what you do gets pirated, the recipients may not know they getting the original. They may not even care unless they believe you’re better (and know you exist).

What you create can be copied whether text, audio, video or photo. With 3D printers, physical objects are getting easier to duplicate too. If you can’t stop piracy, how can you benefit? Let’s look at three steps.

1. Make Something Worth Stealing

What are you creating that’s worth stealing in the first place?

What you do is likely similar to what your competitors do. You may follow standard procedures and have learned from the same teachers (for example, to sell investments, life insurance or real estate). Do your terminology and processes differ enough for a buyer to notice and care?

What makes you truly different? Maybe you have expertise in a niche. Maybe your background gives you an edge.

2. Demonstrate Your Ownership

Getting attention is a big challenge even if you’ve got the best solution. Invisibility hurts you. People with lesser ideas but more visibility have an edge.  You need to take steps so that you don’t disappear.

When you put content online, you establish a timeline. You show you were first. A web searcher can see you were the originator. For this to work, you’ll need to publish on sites where users can’t change timestamps (e.g., on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+). A blog or website may allow manipulation.

3. Keep Creating

If you’re a thought leader, you won’t run out of ideas. You’ll likely have too many. As you share your current thinking, you’re getting further ahead. The pirates can copy faster than you create but they can’t copy what’s going on in your head — your creation process. They can’t have the same understanding. How can they get ahead?

Our Fears

We don’t want our ideas stolen. Fear of our competitors may hold us back from sharing content that would attract buyers. Is that prudent?

I’ve had ideas stolen. Once, a vice president at a bank branch in another city sent out one of my blog posts under his name. How did that get through the Compliance department? I found out because a connection asked for my opinion on the ideas. I responded saying I agreed 100% and linked to my original post. I didn’t contact the plagiarist who ended up losing a client.

You don’t have to give everything away. Be selective. You wouldn’t publish your “secret recipe” or post your source code. What can you lose by showing your processes at a high level, publishing case studies or sharing your ideas?

Related Links

• How to move from out-of-sight to top-of-mind
• Building trust before meeting in person
• The five marketing keys from Google’s Chris O’Neil
• How to beat Goliath with your marketing
• The three marketing essentials for today
• Step 6: how to disappear online
• image courtesy of jdurham

PS Even if you don’t get pirated, you’ll be easier to find online.

WHEN TO CANCEL YOUR PITCH

You’re ready for your important meeting. You arrived early. You dressed well. You printed the slides in case their projector doesn’t work. You have your presentation on a memory stick and your computer. You’ve got nice packages to leave behind. You practiced and practiced. They expressed interest in what you offer.
Then things start going wrong.

The meeting starts late. Some of the planned group don’t attend even though they are in the department. The ones who do show up seem distracted. What do you do?

Keep Calm and Carry On?

It's tempting to push ahead. After all, you’re ready. They need your help. Your presentation is powerful. They’re bound to be swayed and able to convince the decision makers who aren’t there. Maybe … but you're taking a big risk. You can't tell how receptive they are because you don't know what else is going on in their heads.

If you're giving a pitch and they're not listening, stop.

You gain little by continuing. Maybe they never really wanted to see you. If they agreed to meet, that seems unlikely because their time is valuable. It’s more likely that something unexpected happened.
We can't tell what's going on in someone's life. There could be a personal emergency or a work crisis. You don't know. Maybe they decided to buy from someone else.

Another Time

They may tell you to proceed anyway and ask for handouts for the ones who aren’t there. Is complying in your best interest? You risk diluting your impact.

Consider rescheduling. This is difficult if you flew in from another city but easy if you're local. Yes, you wasted your travel time but you’re giving them a valuable gift: unexpected free time. You invoke reciprocity, the #1 universal principle of influence. They’ll likely agree to meet again. They may even reveal why they’re unprepared at the moment.

By rescheduling, you show that you’re observant, generous and considerate. Isn't that the sort of person they want to do business with?

Next Time

What will you do differently next time? If potential clients tend get distracted by the bustle in their office, pick a different location. If they get answer each phone call, pick a quieter time. When they're out of their environment and deviating from their normal routine, you have a better chance at their attention.

When do you get the best results in business meetings? Maybe mornings early in the week beat afternoons late in the week. If you're not able to schedule a meeting at an optimal time, maybe you're better off waiting until you can. If they're busy in the morning, how about meeting for breakfast before their normal day starts?

Links

• Cancelling the wrong appointments
• What will you do differently for today’s customers?
• Building trust before meeting in person
• image courtesy of Rocco D'Auria

PS By rescheduling, you gain free time too. Maybe you beat the traffic back. And get an idea for a blog post.

SPRING AHEAD, FALL BACK: CHANGING YOUR CLIENTS’ CLOCKS

Spring forward. Fall back. We adjust our clocks for Daylight Saving Time (DST) without much thought.

We're tricking ourselves when 7 AM [PM] magically becomes 6 AM [PM] or is it 8 AM [PM]? We accept the change because we benefit. During the short winter days, we’d rather have light in the morning than the evening.  During the long summer days, we have enough light for the mornings and evenings.

Our clocks and smartphones might switch instantly to the “right” time but our bodies don’t. There may be more accidents after we “spring forward” because we lose an hour’s sleep. Or less because we’re driving with better lighting. There are also effects on productivity. 

Conventions

Suppose you move your turn signal to a different location (say to 8 o’clock instead of 9 or 10). Customers will make mistakes especially if they drive different vehicles. The wiper settings mess me up. How do you spray the windshield? This is easy enough to figure out if your first guess is wrong. The harm is minimal. Imagine what would happen if the gas and brake pedals were not standardized.

If you follow norms how do you stand out from competitors? Android has a Back button but iOS hasn’t (except for the Safari web browser). Both systems are workable though you may prefer one. Apple stands out but companies making Android devices do not.

The Price

Changing your norm forces your current clients to undergo minor relearning (how do you heat the steering wheel now?). Your new clients skip this step, especially if you’re following conventions. Best to make the “right” decision at the outset.

How much as you asking your clients to change?

Windows 8 asked for too much. No START button!?! That was another reason to avoid Windows 8. Sales suffered. There were also reasons to avoid upgrading from Window 8 to 8.1.

The Speed

The ideal speed of change varies:

• fast: e.g., to/from DST by an hour rather than 5 minutes a day for 12 days, a chiropractic adjustment, removing a bandage
• slow: e.g., removing training wheels, shrinking snack packages without cutting the price, cheapening ingredients

What can you do to help your clients adjust? We don’t have a choice about adopting Daylight Saving Time but your clients may have a choice about switching from you.

Links

• Saving daylight, at what cost? (New York Times, Mar 2014)
• Five weird effects of Daylight Saving Time (LiveScience, Nov 2013)
• Daylight Saving Time: 6 eye-opening facts (CBC News, Mar 2013)
• Does Daylight Saving Time conserve energy? (Scientific American, Feb 2009)
• image courtesy of Darren Hester

PS Have you seen the 2013 posts on this blog?

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS: DO THE PAINFUL PREPARATION FOR TOMORROW

Preparation takes time.
Preparation takes money.
Preparation causes disruption.
Preparation takes planning.
Preparation is essential.
Customers demand preparation.
While Toronto is a major city, we suffer from inadequate upgrades to infrastructure.

Internet

Our Rogers Ultimate Hi-Speed Internet tops out at 150 Mbps (a review), even though others pay the same price for 250 Mbps and four times the data. Why? The preparation isn’t in place.

We can’t switch to a competitor. Bell Fibe Internet reaches 175 Mbps but we can only get 25 Mbps.

Powerlines

Toronto Hydro is replacing the electrical system in our neighborhood. They’ve installed new taller street poles and new wiring. That’s taken weeks  of elapsed time. Perhaps the new system would have spared us 90 hours without electricity during the latest ice storm. The height of the poles makes damage by tree limbs less likely.

It's another extra-cold day. We may be without electricity for 3.5 hours as the wiring switches over to the new system. The disruption is annoying but necessary. That's how preparation is.
We can’t switch to a competitor because there are none.

Your Situation

Your car reminds when maintenance is required. Your business doesn’t. The costs may not be large.

What preparations should you be doing? There's never a good time. If you plan, at least you have control over the schedule and disruption. You can make arrangements to minimize the impact.

Maintenance is necessary, especially if your customers can easily switch to your competitor. Maybe that’s why Google has been spending heavily on infrastructure — even more than GM.

Links

• Google’s massive spending on infrastructure (CNET, Jan 2014)
• A review of Rogers Unlimited Internet (and how to use it)
• 9/13: Prepare your disaster recovery plan now
• How to prepare, promote and practice a brand-new presentation
• Greater harm than Superstorm Sandy
• Do you delegate or outsource the wrong things?
• Tips for setting priorities and organizing your time
• image courtesy of Thierry Planche

PS You might even get the credit you deserve for being proactive.

APPLY THE NETFLIX MODEL TO YOUR BUSINESS (BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE DOES)

Netflix gives you unlimited access to all their titles for one low monthly fee. That's tough to beat or refuse. The Netflix model has been adopted elsewhere (e.g., to emagazines and ebooks). Why not your business?

Really Unlimited?

Netflix doesn't seem to care what we view (new vs old, movies vs TV) or for how long. Time is scarce and no one can watch 24/7. That means there are practical limits on usage.

If you have unlimited Internet, your devices can consume bandwidth when you're away. You can leave Netflix running and some titles might autoplay but there's no point. You'll lose the bookmarks which keep track of how much you've watched.

Netflix has ways to track consumption. Perhaps they make micropayments to the content providers based on what we watch. The revenue for each provider would vary but Netflix can probably predict the total expenses well.

Your Turn

How could at least part of your business be Netflixed? What can you provide that's unlimited for a fixed price? You may be too close to be objective. Consider brainstorming with outside help.

Whether you offer a product or service, maybe you provide unlimited support via email and/or phone?

What about information? If you develop content, maybe you give unlimited access to the old stuff (which may not be as valuable). Next Issue does for emagazines. The publisher likely gets a micropayment based on which issues is read and how much gets read. That's better than earning nothing from that catalogue.

New Incentives

If you were paid by the hour and now get a flat fee per month, your incentives change. You've now got reasons to become more efficient because time now costs you money. Maybe you create an FAQ or use email templates. You then free up your time for more productive uses.

Side Benefits

Offering fixed prices helps by

• improving relationship with customers since you've removed uncertainty from their bills
• making you remarkable, which gives you the benefits of word of mouth
• providing market intelligence by showing what’s on your customers’ minds
• providing a predictable (and perhaps larger) stream of income

The Fine Print

Netflix doesn't offer as much as you might think

• the selection is limited
• the selection changes (titles expire)
• the selection varies by location (each country offer different choices with much less in Canada than the US)
• the latest titles aren't available until later

You can introduce limitations too.

Links

• Netflix for learning: unlimited access to emagazines, ebooks, audiobooks
• How to beat Goliath with your marketing
• Do you annoy your clients without knowing?
• How healthy is your marketing?
• When your customers fight back
• image courtesy of Klaus Shmidheiser

PS Your transition can take time, as when Netflix started streaming videos instead of only mailing physical disks.

HOW HEALTHY IS YOUR MARKETING?

Boo hoo.
We don't have time.
We don't know how.
We might make mistakes.

These common explanations or reasons or excuses hold us back. Except when a sickness or another emergency rearranges our priorities

Equal

When you're sick, you're forced to make time. You're forced to learn how to get the  treatment. You’re motivated to overcome mistakes that could delay or complicate your recovery. Sickness makes us equal. Even billionaires have to adjust (Steve Jobs “buttoned up”), though having money buys more attention and brings more options.

Paradox

How strange that we have time for sickness but not for health.

For health, we face no crisis or deadline. When sickness strikes fast, it's easy to blame bad luck, especially if you catch the latest disease that’s in the news. When the consequences come slowly (e.g. from poor diet, inadequate exercise, excessive stress) we know who suffers. It’s tougher to tell who’s to blame.

Lest We Forget

Soon enough, we go back to our normal. We forget that …
… we have lots of time.
… we have lots of know how.
… we we learn from mistakes.

You know of actions you could take to make your business better. Just because the steps aren’t urgent doesn’t mean they aren’t important.

Even today, you can do business without a website, without being on LinkedIn, without having a smartphone. It's just that your results will likely suffer. The longer you wait, the further behind you get. Once you decide to act, you're at a significant disadvantage. Spending money may not be enough. As with exercise, you need time and what you learn along the way.

As Bruce Cockburn sang, the trouble with normal is it always gets worse. That means we better get better.

Links

• Steve Jobs “buttoned up”, have you?
• 9/13: prepare your disaster recovery plan now
• 9/11 and the end of innocence
• How healthy are you really?
• Thoughts on Michael Moore’s Sicko
• Napoleon Hill and the six basic fears from 1937
• image courtesy of dinostock

PS Start today. Tomorrow is 9/11.

EVEN NIAGARA FALLS GETS BORING

Do you remember your first visit to Niagara Falls? (If you haven't been, substitute another dream-for-you location like the Grand Canyon or Taj Mahal that you’ve visited.)

Do you remember the anticipation, the wow? Perhaps followed by the "then what"?

Your experience of Niagara Falls depends on factors such as the

• the time of day
• the season
• the weather
• how much time you have
• your stress level
• whether you're there voluntarily
• who you're with
• how long you're there
• how often you visit
• why you're there
• where you view (Canada, US, the air, the water, a hotel or restaurant)
• your condition (tired, stressed, rushed)
• how much you care about nature
• the crowds

Some factors you control, others you influence and others you might as well accept.

The Same Isn't Enough

We quickly get bored.

The first rainbow is impressive and maybe the second but the third? The postcards don't lie (though they may be embellished).

Niagara Falls keeps changing. There are renovations and new features. For instance,  the Canadian side has a casino and a bird place which seem relatively new. On the US side, the Niagara Falls State Park is undergoing renovations for the 2013 peak season. Hotels get renovated, though they may look the same from the outside. Once our sofa got replaced during our stay. It's much nicer to be the first to use the new than the last to use the old.

Your Clients

Your clients and prospects will have different perceptions of you too. That’s not (entirely) your fault but you do have influence.

Expectations are different to predict and they change.

You can stay the same (let's say you're great). That's not enough to be a repeat attraction. Can you keep changing? What's your equivalent of a light show or renovations?

Since expectations keep changing, keep changing too. You probably are --- you can't help it --- but does anyone know? Unless you help people notice, they won't get the benefits. Neither will you. Seller inform.

Links

• Marketing ideas from wasting water
• What are you omitting that could get you in hot soup?
• Expectations change experiences: what do you call yourself?
• Three overlooked paths to a competitive edge
• Gently remind them what you do
• Do your clients feel cheated?

PS If you haven't visited Niagara Falls, do. If the falls aren't enough, you'll find lots of tourist-trap type things too.

FORGET ABOUT WHO WINS AND LOSES

It doesn't matter who wins or loses ... unless you lose when winning matters.

Tip: avoid having a three goal lead in Game 7 of a Stanley Cup playoff and losing in overtime like the Maple Leafs did (CBC Sports, May 13, 2013).

At the highest levels of competition, the differences between winner and loser are often miniscule. Look at the Olympics.
Sometimes the pros cheat to get ahead since incentives affect behavior. The honest competitors get tainted too (though maybe they are complicit by not reporting how abuses could take place). Honesty isn't often black and white but a gradient: minor decisions like “borrowing” a paper clip from work can lead to falsified expense reports.

The Emotions

Watching competitions is emotional. The thrill of victory and the despair of defeat. It’s easy to get engrossed. Do you realize how much time you’re spending watching, discussing and thinking about a game?

Fans get caught up in the competition but do the players wear gear with the names of fans written on the back? Unlikely. The attention doesn’t flow both ways.

Another Way

Jeffrey Gitomer asks how much money you make watching TV. He could also ask how much you earn watching sports (let's ignore gambling).

We have limited time and attention. Both are irreplaceable. Invest some in yourself. You then become the winner and have your own fans who give you referrals. Aren't you worth the bet?

You get results when you focus on what Stephen Covey calls your Circle Of Influence --- stuff you can do stuff about. Sports and other competitions may be in your Circle Of Concern but do you affect the outcome?

Stand Apart

We're defined by what we refuse to do ---- especially when others can’t resist the temptation. Spending less time as a passive observer (a couch potato) will not hurt you.

When you focus on what makes a difference, you learn. You get closer to results and further ahead of your competitors. You get ahead fairly. You become the winner while others remain watchers.

Links

• When to hire a coach
• How relevant are the Oscars?
• Why enter competitions of skill?
• Team up with competitors to grow your market
• Bad business lessons from the Olympics
• Be proactive within your circle of influence
• Lance Armstrong, incentives and behavior
• image courtesy of badwitch31

PS There is a place for entertainment but there is also a place for getting results for yourself.

WRITE A WORKBOOK INSTEAD OF A BOOK

I’ve been planning to write a book on trust and perhaps others. I even have multi-page outlines and thousands of words written. But I’ve stalled. Maybe you have too?

Writing a book is a time-consuming process with  unclear results. You get to say you're an author but is that enough anymore?

Instead, consider writing a workbook that goes into a nice binder and gets used in a workshop you deliver.

Consumption

You probably bought books you haven’t read. Contrast that with a workbook. You’re forced to read portions during the workshop. You’re encouraged to complete exercises and often participate in group discussions. The personalization makes the workbook yours. You’ve personalized it. You have a reason to keep it (even if you don’t refer to it as often as you planned).

Price

If a book typically sells for $10 or $20, yours will too. It doesn’t matter how brilliant, well-expressed or life changing your ideas. Put that same content into a binder and now you have training. Your workbook can now sell for hundreds as part of your exclusive workshop.

Length

A “proper” book seems to run about 200 pages. An amateur’s book run might run 100 or less and have more white space to mask the paucity of content.

If your goal is to say you wrote a book, you save time if you make it short. You can then write more books. (If you don’t care about trust, you can pretend you’ve written Speaking Of Success with Ken Blanchard, Jack Canfield and Stephen Covey.)

Readers expect results from a workbook. They want quality without fluff. Shorter can actually be better. You can create a shorter initial workbook and continue to add content later.

Freshness

By the time you publish a book, the content may already be stale. This is especially true of nonfiction books by major authors using traditional publishers: the gap between writing and publication gets measured in months.

In contrast, you can easily update your workbook whenever you want. You can tailor the content for different groups and different session lengths.

Ease of Creation

Writing a book feels daunting. You can’t ship it until everything is done. Observant readers don’t pardon mistakes easily. We expect perfection. You might take time learning to use a specialized app like Scrivener.

Writing a workbook is much easier. You can’t be sloppy but the expectations aren’t as high. Your workshop attendees can point out mistakes and make suggestions.

You can use Word (or another word processor) and work on the key sections first. The learning curve is small. You get professional results if you print on good quality paper with a laser printer. You can even print in colour.

Proven

A book is a time-consuming experiment that can easily fail. What’s the ROI on your efforts?

Publishing costs money. You need a proper editor and a cover designer. There are multiple steps in the creation of the master files for the paper book and ebook. You can outsource for a price but if you don’t have a reasonable understanding of the process, you might not get your money’s worth.

Marketing

Books don’t sell themselves. You need to market them. The best way is to start before you write by gauging if there is demand. Seth Godin ran a Kickstarter campaign.

A workbook is often designed for a workshop. You know if there’s demand if you get an audience (free or paid). You can also test via webinars too. Your audience can become part of your marketing plan. They can give you testimonials.

The Last Step

If you start with a workbook, you can always write a book later. Now you have the structure and know what works with live audiences. You’re earning money along the path. If you start with a book, you don’t get these advantages.

Links

• Design-Sell-Make: test if your market exists like Seth Godin did on Kickstarter
• Who really wrote Speaking Of Success with Blanchard, Canfield and Covey?
• The why and how or writing a book
• Arranging the perfect social media workshop
• Dealing with dropping attendance
• Would you pay to see this speaker?
• Building trust with blogging

PS Writing a blog helps you write a workbook.

REASONS FOR LEAVING THE TORONTO (REGION) BOARD OF TRADE

I’m leaving the Toronto Board of Trade after two years of membership. I feel obligated to tell you why because my posts about the experience have been read thousands of times:

1. Why join the Toronto Board of Trade? (the most-read post today and this week)
2. A nominee’s view of the Business Excellence Awards
3. What matters more than winning an award?
4. Fixing what's wrong with conferences and networking
5. Reviewing the SMB Exchange (the most-read post this month)

First, no one incident lead to the decision. We’ve grown apart.

Get Involved

To get the most out of an organization, you must participate. Here’s what I did

• attended most events for small business
• attended the excellent SMB Exchange event (here’s why) and joined the online community (my testimonial is on the home page)
• joined the Community Advisory Committee which helped with the small business events
• joined the Business Excellence Award Committee (focused on the Local Economic Impact category)
• made and maintained connections with selected people

I’m not sure how I could have been more involved.

No Events

Since the Business Excellence Awards gala in mid-November 2012, small business events have vanished without explanation.

No December holiday luncheon.
No networking in Etobicoke, North York or Scarborough.
Only one small business event in downtown Toronto.
This month there is absolutely nothing.
Yet there are many other events.
Maybe the focus has changed.

Why belong when there aren’t any appealing events? There’s isn’t much else to do besides attend.

What Else?

The Toronto Board of Trade has different levels of membership with different privileges. I had the basic $475 Connected plan which includes a $200 credit to use towards purchases, such as tickets. Opportunities to speak and write appear to be restricted to members who pay more. That’s unfortunate.

Compare with the Mississauga Board of Trade. Any member can write for MBOT Magazine and I did several times. Also, the committees have meaningful roles (e.g., selecting themes and speakers) while the staff handle the logistics.

Other Places

There are other ways to meet nice people without paying an membership fee or a surcharge as a nonmember:

• the Star Business Club from the Toronto Star
• the Small Business Summit from The Globe and Mail (now in Calgary and Vancouver too)
• alumni events: e.g., Western University (where I also volunteer) charges $0 or $15 for events in nice spots like the CN Tower, 180 Panorama or the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

There’s no shortage of quality events. I get ideas by asking my LinkedIn connections and noticing where they go.

The Name Change

On Jan 28, 2013, the Toronto Board of Trade became the Toronto Region Board of Trade (announcement).

Huh? What’s the Toronto Region? Not even Google knows. A search gives results for Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

Just because members and issues extend beyond the City of Toronto doesn’t require a longer name with more syllables. Can you imagine these name changes?

• the Toronto Region Star
• the Toronto Region Blue Jays
• the Toronto Region Maple Leafs
• the Toronto Region International Film Festival

There’s power in brevity.

Based on the lack of media coverage, the name change looks like a nonevent. Here’s Google News a week later.

The Future

The Toronto Region Board of Trade may be ideal for you. You might want to attend several events before deciding. You can join the mailing list to find out what’s happening.

Maybe amazing changes are underway. If so, I may return. For now, I’m taking a break and felt you deserved to know.

Links

• Toronto ‘Region’ Board of Trade elbows in on Mississauga (Toronto Star, Jan 30, 2013)
• Why join the Toronto Board of Trade?
• A nominee’s view of the Business Excellence Awards
• What matters more than winning an award?
• Fixing what's wrong with conferences and networking at the SMB Exchange
• Reviewing the SMB Exchange
• image courtesy of xandert

PS I’ll miss the committees the most

HOW TO REFRESH YOUR POSITIONING

What you do may be clear to you but not to others. Don’t blame them. Life’s busy and attention spans short. Refresh your positioning instead.

The Challenge

Positioning is tough. If you say you’re a coach, you’re easily stereotyped even though you’re unique (at least until cloning). If you pick a clever title (e.g., “Angle Coach”) and tagline (e.g., “Changing By Degree”), what you do may not be clear. If you’re given the opportunity to explain, you’re stereotyped again.

What you do may have evolved since you positioned yourself last time.

Example

I've been calling myself a Marketing Actuary for years. That’s reasonable because I own marketingactuary.com (this website) and have helped entrepreneurs market better. My last official title in the corporate world was Director of Advanced Marketing.

While I have a personal website, promodsharma.com, some people have trouble remembering or correctly spelling my name. In contrast, Marketing Actuary is easier to remember and leads directly to me.
The only drawback is confusion.

My real work involves life and health insurance (education, reviews, sales). I’m really an “insurance actuary” but don’t show up in a web search with those keywords.

Title

I started calling myself an Insurance Actuary last week.

Tagline

I changed my tagline from “actuary to the wealthy” to “actuary | advocate | blogger” earlier this year. My new title gave me a better idea: “promoting insurance literacy”.

My name is spelled “Promod”, which is usually pronounced “pro-MOD”. The correct way is “pro-MODE” (which rhymes with “commode”). “Promote” has a similar sound and positive connotations.

Financial literacy is a big problem but the battle focuses on investing. Who’s talking about the more specialized world of insurance? I can align myself with “promoting insurance literacy”. It’s even true, since I started a financial wiki in 2006 (Riscario) and blog in 2007 (Riscario Insider).

Clever, huh?

Your Turn

Your positioning may still make sense to you. What I've done might suboptimal. That’s okay. There’s value in making changes even when they’re less than perfect. You get closer to the ideal.
You don’t need fresh business cards while you experiment. Instead,

1. Make the changes on your LinkedIn profile.
2. Modify your “elevator speech” or commercial.
3. Gauge the reactions and make adjustments.

Getting Ideas

You may have trouble figuring out better ways to position yourself. As a start, ask the people you know how they’d describe you. Take notes. You may not get a flash insight but you’re gathering data. Think about what you’re being told without over-analyzing. My process took several weeks.

If you’re stuck, ask for help. Look for someone who specifically does positioning.

One Small Step ...

My changes are minor but I'm already getting good responses to Insurance Actuary | Promoting Insurance Literacy. I've also got an untapped niche, a “blue ocean”.

When you reposition yourself, you get fresh perspectives. You see yourself differently and others do too. You may think your new position isn't far from your old one. It is.

Links

• The step before your marketing
• Insights from 291 business cards
• Creating your 10 second commercial
• Four easy ways to become an expert in your field (Forbes, Oct 2012)
• Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout: summary (Bookstove, Apr 2011)
• 1984: smash conformity with your free hammer
• image courtesy of Sergio Roberto Bichara (Brazil)

PS If you say you do more than one thing, you’ll look like a generalist.

SHOW THE PRICES FOR YOUR SERVICES

Imagine going to a retailer’s website and not seeing prices. Would you bother to get an estimate or would you opt for a site that tells you?

You’re used to finding prices and details online. Your customers are too.

“Wait,” you say. You're selling a service. Each case is unique. You can’t simply show prices online. That’s the common thinking among accountants, lawyers, fee-only financial planners, web designers and many others. Here are three reasons given for withholding prices.

1. too complicated
2. hiding from competitors
3. prices change

Put your calculator away. Let’s examine each point.

Too Complicated

Your pricing may vary with

• the type of work: routine vs. customized
• the hours: actual vs. estimated
• the client: e.g., family vs. corporate, remarried vs. married
• the scale: discounts for bigger projects
• the urgency: ASAP vs. soon
• the number of revisions: normal vs. excessive

You must have a formula of sorts, probably based on an underlying hourly rate. You could describe your process and give examples of typical cases. Yes, you can reserve the option to revise prices for unusual situations (ideally before the work starts).

If you develop standard packages for common situations, you clarify what you do, eliminate pricing surprises and help others refer you.

Hiding From Competitors

If you're competing on price, you may not want your competitors to know what you charge. That's also an excuse for refusing to put your process or samples of your work online. You may think that what you’re doing is special and prone to copying. Potential buyers may see what your industry does as generic and interchangeable — unless you help them understand and value the differences you bring.

Clear and meaningful positioning reduces your competition. Back in 2007, Hyundai was comparing the Sonata with the BMW 5-series. Really? The comparisons could become valid in the future, especially if BMW partners with Hyundai on new engine development (Digital Trends, May 2012).

When you hide from your competitors, you also hide from your market. Adding details like pricing helps your real audience choose you — your clients, prospects and collaborators.

Maybe you worry about being seen as pricey. You may have reasons for premium pricing, such as extra expertise or more quality assurance. Show why you provide better value.

Prices Change

In a service business, the cost of materials is often negligible. You have flexibility in setting prices.

Maybe you maximize profits by charging prospects different rates based on what you think they’ll pay. Personalized pricing (Six Pixels, Nov 23, 2012) is contentious, especially when we’re the buyers. Publishing prices would get in the way.

You might build more trust and earn more business by having uniform prices. Not everyone wants the lowest price. You might increase your revenue by having extra (published) charges for more scenarios/prototypes or faster results.

Think Like A Customer

Would your clients prefer clear pricing? Give it to them. You give them peace of mind. You differentiate yourself. You help them refer others to you. You put pressure on your competitors to follow your lead. You might get media attention and attract like-minded collaborators.

With fixed pricing, your profits on each client vary. You now have incentives to improve your efficiency to improve your margins. You might even charge a premium for a fixed prices with pay-as-you-go pricing as the other option.

If you don't show your prices, you raise doubts. Build trust and you build business.

Links

• Selling and The Simpsons
• Three marketing lessons from the iPad
• Competing with a commodity: fudge on Mackinac Island
• Are you seen as a commodity?
• How does anyone know you’re any good?
• What are you omitting that could get you in hot soup?
• image courtesy of

PS It's November. If you start now, in a couple of months you can say "since last year" :)

TEAM UP WITH COMPETITORS TO GROW YOUR MARKET [LESSON FROM #CPFC12]

Are you tired of meeting competitors wherever you go?

That happened this weekend at the sold-out Canadian Personal Finance Conference (CPFC12) hosted by Preet Banerjee (LinkedIn) and Krystal Yee (LinkedIn). The main attendees were experienced bloggers and journalists. They all compete for a scarce, irreplaceable resource: your attention. Yet no fights took place.

You have many distractions and can scat at any instant. Writers compete by improving. They don’t prepare comparisons: more semi-colons than any other blog. They don’t have specials: 25% more words while quantities last. They don’t push fluff: new formatting; same great content.

But Wait

When we care about the subject, we go to more than one source. We want different perspectives from experts we trust. For instance, you won’t get all your marketing advice from one place.

Bloggers help themselves by helping each other succeed. They link to one another’s posts and leave comments on their blogs. By cooperating, they make their niche richer and deeper. That helps attract and retain readers.

Exceptions

Sometimes real competition prevents cooperation. If you’re looking for the lowest loan rate or the highest saving rate, you might only visit the site that Google ranks highest.

In business, rivalry interferes. Will the Apple store ever say your needs would be better served by Windows or Android? At least you know the biases before you go in.

Clustering

Vendors cluster. You’ll find burger, pizza and sub places near each other. You get used to going to that area even if you don’t always buy the same thing.

In downtown Toronto, the BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche dealerships are nearby. You probably won’t buy all three (if any) but proximity helps you compare and contrast. You might try and buy a brand you weren’t considering before.

But First

If you are selling tomorrow, be very careful not to pitch people who are only interested in buying things that are about today. Before a marketer or organization can sell something that works in the future, she must sell the market on the very notion that the future matters.
— Seth Godin, truth and consequences

Personal finances are about the future. People who need help may be too busy with the latest iFrenzy to pay attention. What about your clients?

Maybe your real opportunity comes from boosting awareness of the category of service you sell. You can’t do this alone. You need help from vendors in the same niche and credible advocates. Amplify each other (unless prohibited by corporate policy).

When your real competitors are ignorance and indifference, team up the way bloggers do. A bucket brigade gets better results faster. All win. As awareness builds, buyers become more plentiful and discerning. You now have an opportunity to earn your share (or more).

Links

• CPFC12: website, Twitter (#CPFC12)
• Squawkfox talks at CPFC12: The speaking secret from Kerry K Taylor
• Building trust with blogging at Word11
• Fixing what’s wrong with conferences and networking at the SMB Exchange
• Why you need a weak link to give excellent service
• When your customers fight back
• Truth and consequence (Seth Godin, Sep 23, 2012)
• Image courtesy of US Navy (Wikimedia Commons)

PS This post was trimmed by 187 words. Get less words … for a limited time only!

GET ‘BACK TO SCHOOL’ WITH YOUR MARKETING

Schools re-open today. Do you remember your lessons from years past? Not what you learned but how you learned. Those old lessons can help with your marketing now.

The Process

To succeed in school, you need to plan ahead. That means knowing basics such as  exam dates and when projects are due. To remember, you also need to make a schedule. A combination of a Google calendar and a To Do list works well for me. You also need to stay on schedule. It's very easy to fall behind or (re-)establish bad habits.

Having a support group like a mastermind works well (here are lessons from three).

Learn

We're not done yet. You need to learn. That means to

• be open to learning
• study (sorry!)
• share what you learn

If you're not motivated to learn, you won't. At least not very well.

You're not learning unless you're stretching yourself either. You may have loved Green Eggs and Ham. Maybe Dr. Seuss did too. He didn't stop there. His final book, Oh, the Places You'll Go! shows a definite evolution and also reaches a different audience than One Fish, Two Fish.

You don't really learn until you share what you’re learning. Blogging is one way, even if your readership starts small.

No Excuses

We were forced to attend school. If you aren't interested, too bad. If you don't have time for an assignment, too bad. If you're confused and falling behind, too bad. You may have more leeway today but that’s hardly permission to make excuses or procrastinate.

Grades

In school, our grades show our progress. In business, the marketplace grades us. We may think we're doing well because we don't get a regular report card. Are we fooling ourselves?

To get feedback earlier, show your progress. Seth Godin is doing this on Kickstarter for The Icarus Deception, his new book. He’s already posted 14 updates. Your market may find your process more fascinating than the results (though make them great too). It’s easy to communicate via Twitter and blog posts.

Scope

In school, we're told how many subjects to take. In business, we're already busy. We need projects or sub-projects we can complete in a reasonable timeframe. You might find that three months is just right — not too long, not too short. Maybe you plan by calendar quarter or season.

What's the right subject to tackle?

You might want to work on your strengths for mastery or on a weakness for outsized results. For example, I learned the basics of video editing this year (see YouTube). The results aren't amazing but they are a huge step for me. I'd like to get better but progress will be slower and take more effort. For hands-on experience, I volunteered to work on community television.

Help

How do you learn? Where do you go for help? You may like having a teacher or tutor. You may prefer learning on your own since there's so much available online and in books. If you're stumped, you can think, procrastinate or get help. Just like in school.

Links

• Lessons from three different masterminds
• Reach your goals with Pick Four
• Five steps to freshen your group’s online appeal
• Competing with a commodity
• Three ways to start the year with the wind in your sales
• Design-Sell-Make like Seth Godin did on Kickstarter
• When your student leaves home
• image courtesy of Stasys Eidiejus

PS Your first assignment is to figure out what you want to do. Class dismissed!

DESIGN-SELL-MAKE: TEST IF YOUR MARKET EXISTS LIKE SETH GODIN DID ON KICKSTARTER

It's wonderful to think you've got an amazing idea. At some point you'll find out with clients agree. Conventional market research has limited value since we often don't know what we want until we see it.

The usual process is to Design-Make-Sell. You don't know if you have a winner until the end. That’s risky. There is another process: Design-Sell-Make. You’ll know if there’s a market before you start. You might as well fail early, cheap and in public. 

The Experiment

Today, Seth Godin ran an interesting experiment on Kickstarter. He wanted to raise $40,000 for his new book, The Icarus Deception. Within hours, he reached his goal. Here’s the page.

By the time I got online, the packages I wanted were gone. I selected the $111 No Brainer (8 hard covers, 2 signed copies of V for Vulnerable, and “the limited-edition, mammoth digital collection in print, a book heavy enough to kill a small mammal”). The option I wanted isn't available: ebook + audiobook. I guess I'll need to buy them separately.

Lessons

Here are transferable three lessons from Seth’s experiment:

1. Reciprocity works
2. Attention precedes money
3. Failure is an option

Reciprocity Works

Reciprocity is the first universal principle of influence, according to Robert Cialdini.

Seth's daily blog posts are free but very valuable. Readers with consciences will eventually feel an obligation to repay Seth in some way. There aren't many options. You can buy his books, attend his occasional live events and support his causes. You can also tell others about Seth --- which is probably most valuable in the long term.

Attention Precedes Money

The best way for an author to use the internet is to slowly build a following. Difficult, time-consuming and effective.
--- Seth Godin (Kickstarter, strangers and friends)

Attention matters. When your tribe/fans/network/audience pay you with attention, you're in a better position to get them to pay you with money later. It's important to grow your connections using the platforms of your choice. I focus on blogging, LinkedIn and Twitter.

How do you let visitors decide if you warrant their scarce attention? Show free samples of your work online. As you build your digital tapestry, you'll make ever-stronger impressions on subsequent visitors. As you find your voice, you'll transform from parrot to pundit for your connections.

Failure Is An Option

If I hadn’t made it, I would have kept my word and not made the book.
--- Seth Godin (Forbes)

With his large tribe, you might think that everything Seth does beats his expectations. That's unlikely. For his 50th birthday, he invited donations to a freshwater project. He didn't meet his $50,000 target but got 79.874% of the way there. Let’s call that 80%.

Seth has skeptics. On Quora, there’s a question about whether he writes all his own copy. He confirmed he did in 2012 and 2009 but there will be doubters. When he wrote about Ray Bradbury’s death, some thought he was ”shilling at a funeral”. Amusing.

Failure is an option when goals are ambitious.

Your Experiment

We can do what Seth did, though our results will vary.

I'm writing a book about Trust And You (why and how). I don't have a sense of the potential audience. I'm counting on my connections to buy copies and spread the word. After all, I’m writing for them.

I've already started the marketing. There are 147 tweets @trustandyou but only 13 Followers (down from 14 yesterday). That's disappointing since trust is an important topic that few tweet about. A Kickstarter campaign may be a good way to gauge the real appeal.

What are you doing that would benefit from estimating success in advance?

Links

• Reflections on today’s Kickstarter (Seth Godin, Jun 18, 2012)
• Seth Godin used Kickstarter to fund his next book raising over $130,000 (Forbes, Jun 18, 2012)
• This might work (my new book) (Seth Godin, Jun 18, 2012)
• Kickstarter, strangers and friends (Seth Godin, Jun 18, 2012)
• The why and how of writing a book
• Five presentation lessons from Seth Godin
• Giving book readers a say (Wall Street Journal, Jun 24, 2012) (new)

PS Maybe you have a side project. Try to earn attention.

HOW DO YOU SHOW PASSION IN YOUR WORK?

How do you put passion into your work?

Having passion is a good start. Let's say you do. Let's say money isn't your main motivator.

You might argue that passion is too expensive to include these days, that clients won't pay or value it. That's not quite true.

Who Has Passion?

Artists exude passion. Actors, painters, directors, poets, musicians, Olympic athletes, writers. They wouldn't put in the 10,000 hours on the path to mastery without a burning desire. Quitting is much easier.

Watch any "making of" documentary and you'll see how much takes place behind the scenes to get things just right. Steve Jobs is an extreme example.

Counting The Ways

There are different ways to be passionate (in a business setting). Perhaps you

• pay extra attention to detail
• practice longer
• study more
• simplify your sentences
• use simple graphics (like Carl Richards in his napkin drawings)
• include extras without charging extra
• provide service which is better, faster (or slower), ...
• create more (e.g. more prolific in writing)
• answer more questions (like Guillermo del Toro and Neil Hetherington did recently)
• use better ingredients
• give more away for free
• have a quality assurance process
• guarantee satisfaction
• show more patience
• accommodate special requests
• remain in touch after the sale

There are lots of ways.

Do your clients know?

Perhaps you have a peer review process to ensure that your solutions are precise and optimal. You're doing extra work that the client may never see, and hence never appreciate.

You might get better results by making mistakes and recovering quickly, though not as a deliberate strategy (see recovering from bad service at Mercedes).

Maybe your clients will notice your passion. If they don’t, are they to blame? Maybe you need to tell them what's special and help them appreciate the difference.

Do your clients care?

To help clients care, you can show the steps in your process and explain the reasons for them. The best place is online. Clients who value your extras can now communicate them to others. Going through the process helps you explain too.

Those who don't care aren't really your clients, are they? Rather than spending more time to win them over, maybe it's best to part ways.

Links

• The passion of Guillermo del Toro, Neil Hetherington and your advisor
• Insights from Carl Richards and his napkin drawings
• Outliers: Mastery + Opportunity > Talent
• Thoughts on The Dip (from Seth Godin)
• Expectations change experiences: what do you call yourself?
• The car purchase: recovering from bad service
• How can your clients find you?
• image courtesy of Daniel Fuhr

PS If your passion is low or gone, can you restore the magic?

ARE YOU A VISIONARY?

Are you a visionary?

If you were, would you call yourself one?

Who would believe you? Are they credible or gullible? We're judged by the people around us.

Titles are earned and require signs of ongoing merit to maintain. There's no rest for the worthy. Think of a hot air balloon in flight. You've got to keep adding fuel and take time to refuel. Regular maintenance is a good idea too.

Pompous self-aggrandizement flops like the ears on a bored bunny. Whatever. Ho hum. La di da. Rather than impress, you might achieve the opposite result.

Claims

If you are a "visionary", what's your vision?  Who's following you (voluntarily)? Who's spreading the word (without getting motivated by self-interest)?

If you're a "leader", what have you accomplished and who has followed you (voluntarily). Who has vouched for you (voluntarily)? Where's the evidence?

If you're a "best-selling author", have you done anything except make money or buy your books yourself? If you were well known, would you call yourself a "best-selling author"? Or would you say you're the author of The Hunger Games or Blink? If we don't recognize your name or your book titles, we don't know you. What does "best-selling" mean anyway? If that means #1 in sale of books, your name would be known.

If you're "award winning", have we heard of the award? Did you face real competition? How recently did you win? Is the award relevant?

If you're a visionary leader and a best-selling author of an award-winning book, congratulations. You're beyond the scope of this post.

Actions

Rather than make claims, act.

Describe what you've done (if relevant) and what you do. Be factual. Let people make their own judgments. They will anyway from the clues you provide and the ones they find.
Speaking of visionaries, I'm reminded of Minutes To Memories by John Mellencamp:

The old man had a vision but it was hard for me to follow.
I do things my way and I pay a high price.

If you're making grand claims about yourself, you're paying a high price in lost credibility. How do you meet or exceed expectations when you've inflated them? That’s not very visionary.

Links

• We see as we are
• How does anyone know you’re good?
• Expectations change: what do you call yourself?
• Three ways to beat the market leader
• How to make your message stick
• What’s better: “ultimate” or “pure”?
• image courtesy of Angelika Bentin

PS Do you make pompous claims in your LinkedIn profile or biography? Get outside opinions.

HOW TO GET YOUR AUDIENCE’S CONTACT DETAILS

When you speak, how do you collect contact information from your audience?

Your audience knows you want business. You can pursue them, or let them pursue you.

Pursue

Put your business card in the basket to win. And there are no losers because you'll all receive my wonderful newsletter filled with sales pitches.

You've probably seen that approach. How did you feel? I rarely enter. Privacy is too important to squander on trifles.

Last month, I saw a touted speaker use the Draw Ploy. The session was ho hum. We weren't told what the prize was. I entered to see what he’d do. The next day, I started getting weekly emails I did not request. That’s spam, Bye bye trust.

A slightly better way is get permission. For example, ask them to write “newsletter” on the back of the card or make a mark.

Sometimes there are attendance sheets with columns for name/email address and checkboxes for "add to mailing list", "request free ebook". The legibility of the handwriting can be a problem and contact information gets seen by others who sign up.

Maybe you offer an ebook or other enticement in lieu of a prize. Either way, you're buying attention with a lure. You’re also creating extra work for yourself.

Pursued

When you speak well, your audience pays you with attention, applause and business. There are lots of them but only one of you. Value comes from scarcity (the #2 principle of influence). Who needs who more?

You don’t need to give a prize. Worse, you're wasting valuable time with the draw. Speak well and interested audience members will want to approach you afterwards. Save time for this.

While chatting, you can exchange business cards and ask if they'd like to connect on LinkedIn. That’s a low key to stay in touch even if they don’t need your services at the moment. If they don’t invite you within a few days, you can reach out to them, Once connected, their entire network knows about you.

Coaxing

Provide easy ways to reach you. You can put your contact information on your final slide. You can have a business card placed at each seat. You can have a one-page summary that includes your contact information as a handout at the front of the room after you’re done.

Better still, reach your audience without collecting business cards or sending emails.

Let the organizers do the work. They already have the tools and permission to send emails. What do you have that your audience might want? How about your slides, a video recording and other resources? Tell your audience what you’re making available and how. You’re supporting the organizers and helping your audience. You’re planting seeds for reciprocity.

Bonus: the organizers can reach people who didn’t even attend. You can’t.

Destination

I usually create a web page with a copy of the slides, a video and additional resources. I send the organizers a link to share. No email accounts get filled with unwanted attachments. I can make changes or add more content. Also, I can track visits with Google Analytics. Here’s the most recent example. Next week, I volunteered to show the unemployed how to earn trust. Here’s the page.

A destination gives you another huge advantage. You're adding to your digital tapestry.

Have you ever seen lousy speakers? The organizers booked them on faith and got duped. If you build a page showcasing your presentations (like this), they can see what you’ve done with their own eyes. You reduce their risks immensely.

A-List

Some top speakers don't give their contact information. I asked one why. Because he's findable online. He said he wasn’t interested in anyone too lazy to do a Google search.

Instead of contacting your audience, give a great presentation, be inviting and be findable. Let them contact you. We value what we earn over what's handed to us. Be the one they want.

Links

• How presenters under-deliver (and what to do)
• Dealing with dropping attendance
• Boosting sales with seminars
• Flubs in a seminar with a $500,000 ticket
• The unremarkable client seminar
• image courtesy of Angelika Bentin

PS Do you pursue or get pursued?