THE DANGER OF HUMOR (EVEN ON APRIL 1st)

If you want people to trust you, be wary of using humor. That's because a joke is a trick — things aren't what they seem. There's a twist in meaning. If they’ve heard the joke before, you risk looking like a copycat — or a plagiarist if you create the impression that you’re the author.

Do you want to be associated with trickery? Do you want to leave a slight doubt about your truthfulness. Maybe you’re a master and people have trouble instantly telling whether you’re serious or funny.  Congratulations, but what have you really accomplished?

Misconstrued

Your humor might not be understood or appreciated. We meet people of different ages, cultures and experiences. We don't know what's going on in their heads. What if they’re dealing with personal pain. Maybe they need to laugh but you add to their anguish by being insensitive by mistake. How does that lead to business?

Example: Toyota

At a Toyota dealership, we asked to test drive a Highlander. The sales rep said "No" and then after seeing our surprised expressions added "just kidding".

The harm was already done. We weren't there for a laugh (or to be laughed at).

We might have been receptive if we were in a different mood. We were visiting our third vendor that evening. The first place didn't have a Highlander available (even though I drove one that afternoon and made an appointment). The second place didn't have a Highlander in the showroom and no one was available to talk to us. We were at the third place and already tired.

We eventually got our test drive but were discouraged to save time by not going on the highway. The rep joked again: we should go to another dealership for a proper city/highway test drive and then return to buy from him. Really?

Related: The best buying experience revisited

Seriously

You needn't be 100% serious either. Please don't! You can’t bore people into buying. I’ve tried!

You don't need to tell jokes to show you see the lighter side of life. You exude your personality by what you say and especially by what you do over time. A good sense of humor is one of the seven components of dynamic personal influence.

April Fools Day Classics

When I was in university, the London Free Press ran a BMW ad showing their latest innovation: an engine which ran on fuel extracted from raw potatoes. As a non-chemist, the details looked semi-plausible. The conclusion? In the future, we’d fill up at the grocery store rather than the gas station.

I'll (now) admit that I was fooled, but no one knew.

Links

• Building trust before meeting in person
• Perceptions: changing your clients’ clocks
• How to respond to bad news
• image courtesy of hellotim

PS Save the chuckles for your buddies at the bar, especially if you use banker jokes — the ones where only the tellers laugh.

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?

HOW TO NUDGE A COMPANY TO MAKE WHAT YOU SELL MORE COMPETITIVE

If you’re selling the best product, at the lowest price, with the best support and at the highest compensation, congratulations! If not, read on.

No company excels at everything. Compromises get made. For example, life insurers that sell through independent advisors aim to be reasonably competitive. They often think they are. Showing otherwise takes some skill.

Let's say you find one company's commissions are relatively low. What can you do? Here’s a three step process which also works for other changes you may want.

1. Prove It

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
--- Benjamin Franklin

Talk is quick. Proof takes work. An apples-to-apples comparison goes far in getting change. For proof to be effective, you must compare fairly, unlike Hyundai claiming their Sonata is better than a BMW 525 (watch the commercial).

  Summarize your proof in a pleasant email and attach the evidence for review. Why not phone? You can but email makes your message easy to forward and leaves records that show you’re serious.

2. Tell The Right Person

Once you've got proof, tell the right person. If you don’t have rapport with the decision maker, start with someone who’s likely on your side. Who directly benefits from your sales? Your distributor or wholesaler probably does.

Do you carbon copy everyone you know on your email? No! If you started with the right person, they’ll likely investigate or forward your email to someone who will. When you involve too many people, you might slow down the process and alienate people who might have helped you.

3. Pause Before Following Up

People are busy. Marking your request "ASAP" may actually hurt. You're better off allowing a day or two for a reply. In the ideal world, you'll receive quick acknowledgment of your query and an estimate of when to expect an answer.

You might not get an immediate change but you will make an impression. Companies want to be reasonably competitive. Sometimes they aren't but didn't know. If others make similar requests, changes are more likely.

Links

• Three steps to get replies to your emails
• Universal principle of influence #5: consensus
• The seven components of dynamic personal influence
• Two tips for doing business with a government
• Three overlooked paths to a competitive edge
• image courtesy of Kenn W Kiser

PS Refrain from going public via social media before, during or afterwards. You don’t want to damage relationships.

HOW TO MOVE FROM OUT-OF-SIGHT TO TOP-OF-MIND

You can accelerate the process of becoming visible and then memorable. Networking alone isn’t enough because you won’t be seen by most of your connections --- the ones who weren’t there. When they’re out of sight, you’re out of mind.

Let's follow a "fake it 'til you make it" model.

Fake Familiarity

I read story in a book years ago but can’t find references. Let’s assume it’s true.

Home Depot asked customers which brand of hot water heater they preferred. The winner was General Electric. That’s remarkable because GE didn’t make any.

How did GE win? People are familiar with the company, which makes many consumer products including ranges, microwaves and fridges.  Assuming GE made hot water heaters isn’t much of a stretch. Maybe the people surveyed didn’t know which brand they had and didn’t recognize the other choices. Maybe they gave the answer they thought the surveyors wanted.

Home Depot saw an opportunity to turn fake familiarity into real business. They approached GE and got exclusive rights to make hot water heaters under the GE name.

Show Up

To become more visible, start showing up at events. You needn’t announce your intentions. Simply start showing up and network. Consistently. You’ll start to get noticed.

You’ll become more comfortable and familiar. Soon, people will remember you as having been around longer than you were. They will even think you were at places you didn’t go because they’ll start anticipating where they expect to see you. You become like GE.

Imply

You gain little by saying you’re attending an event for the first time if people would expect to find you there (e.g., a trade conference). Why weren’t you there before? Maybe you didn’t know or didn’t see the benefits. Is either worth admitting?

Refer to yourself as having shown up.

For instance, if you say "I liked speaker X at this year’s Y Conference", your audience may infer that you attended in the past even if you're a first-timer. If you’re asked about last year, you can say that you couldn’t make it. That implies you normally attend.

Isn't this sneaky? You aren't saying you did something you didn't. You're letting people infer. Marketing is about the stories people tell themselves. Leave gaps and your audience will fill them in.

Spread The Word

As Yogi Berra said, “You can observe a lot just by watching.”

As you start showing up, you gather valuable information and insights. You then have a universal lasting gift that’s easy to share via a regular newsletter (e.g., Mad Mimi gives low effort results). Thanks to tracking codes, you’ll instantly see what’s working and with whom.

By sharing, you remind your fellow attendees about the event (not everyone takes notes). More important, you inform your larger group of connections who were not there. That’s leverage. As you become their eyes and ears, you become more valuable and visible even if they are out-of-sight.

Links

• Building trust with networking
• Pre-announce or ship? Comparing strategies at Apple, Blackberry, Google and Microsoft
• What lasting gift can you offer everyone you meet?
• Blogs vs newsletters: which is better for you?
• Starting your own private social network
• Use Mad Mimi for your email newsletters

PS Buying a Home Depot “GE” water heater may not be a good idea …

WHAT LASTING GIFT CAN YOU OFFER EVERYONE YOU MEET?

You just met someone for the first time and have started building a relationship. You exchanged business cards and agreed to connect on LinkedIn.

That’s a good start, but how do you really stay in touch?

Your CRM solution can remind you to follow up. Communicating one-to-one is valuable but difficult to scale. Consistency can suffer.

What gift can you give to keep reminding new connections about you? A pen or water bottle won’t do. Your competitors likely offer them too. There’s also the cost to the environment and your budget.

The Ideal Gift

Dr. Robert Cialdini says the ideal gift is significant, personalized and unexpected. He advises us to give information. That’s easy via social networks but what you’re doing may get overlooked in the deluge of content your connections receive.

Consider a newsletter instead. Please don’t groan.

You’ve seen ones that look professional but take effort to read. You’ve deleted ones that are too salesy or frequent. Make your newsletter both interesting and useful to your audience. Figuring out how will take time. Here’s an approach that uses photos and third party articles.

Why is a newsletter an ideal gift? The significance comes from you caring enough about your subscribers to be consistent. The personalization comes from your personality, a factor in why they agreed to let you join their network. The unexpectedness comes from the actual content. They can’t tell what’s there without looking. Isn’t that why we keep checking our messages?

There are other advantages too.

Low Cost

For Them

Accepting a newsletter subscription has very low cost. If the subscriber doesn’t like the content, the emails are easy to delete or process with an automated rule. You won’t even know.

Towards the end of your meeting, ask

Are you getting my newsletter? or Would you like to get my newsletter?

What do you think they’ll say? If they’re reluctant, you could show or send them a sample.

For You

You can send newsletters for free or very low cost. Your main investment is the time an issue takes to create. Your return grows as you add more subscribers.

You’ll want to subscribe to the newsletters of your connections, perhaps with a nonwork email address. Do this first and they’re even more likely to accept your newsletter. That’s the power of reciprocity.

Convenience

For Them

Subscribing is a hassle. Look at the steps:

1. They go the subscription form (when they get around to this)
2. They input their email address and first name (sometimes even more)
3. They click on a confirmation email

That’s not difficult but it’s not enjoyable either. You’re stuck waiting.
Be proactive. With a newsletter, you can add subscribers (with their advance permission). This is 100% hassle-free for them and greatly increases your subscription rates.

For You

These days, a newsletter is easy to create. You’ll likely need help to get the design consistent with your branding. That’s a one-time exercise. Preparing an issue gets faster with practice. You could even outsource the work.

Measurement

With a newsletter, you know what’s read and who’s reading. That means you also know what’s unread and who isn’t reading. If you aren’t getting the results you want, you can make changes and track the results. Over time, your gift becomes even more valuable and you have the proof.

Links

• Exude your personality
• Rediscovering email newsletters
• Why you need a newsletter now
• Building trust with networking
• How do you show passion in your work?
• The #1 universal principal of influence
• Use Mad Mimi for your email newsletters (new)
• image courtesy of Muffet

PS Help your subscribers give your newsletter as their gift by adding sharing links to each issue.

SPEAK UP: DO YOU SAY WHAT NEEDS TO BE SAID?

In the perfect crime, Seth Godin says “marketing enables a pickpocket to steal a wallet --- and be thanked for it”. Strong words. Seth takes a stand against marketing which  creates side effects like obesity: “Just because marketing works doesn't mean we have an obligation to do it. And if we're too greedy to stop on our own, then yes, we should be stopped.”

He could have stayed silent. He could have made his comments in private. Instead, Seth told the world.

What do you know that you know needs to be said? Do you say it?

Why It Works

Actions have consequences. When you make your views known, you show courage. You aren’t trying to please everyone with blandness. As a result, you stand out from the silent masses.

Will everyone like what you say? No. When you make you speak out, you polarize. You’ll repel some. You’ll also attract some, even if they disagree. This second group is worth your focus.

Examples

Readers want good information to make good decisions. If you’ve established a level of trust, they will be interested in what you say.
In the past, I’ve written about

• How Rogers fooled us three times with their Internet plans
• Chocolate, price-fixing and salmonella poisoning
• The best buying experience: Audi vs BMW vs Mercedes-Benz
• Private social networks: Ning vs SocialGo vs Grou.ps
• The unwelcome lesson from the RBC-iGate saga
• @RichardatDell and Dell’s flubbed opportunity
• Blackberry’s confusing message at the 2013 Tech Leadership Conference
• The reaction to Apple’s tax avoidance
• The sad tale of Lenovo and UPS

These examples include some of my most popular posts.

Why Bother?

When you build an audience you care about, don’t you have an obligation to keep them informed? Aren’t you bursting to tell the people around the water cooler, coffee pot or lunch table? Those conversations disappear without a lasting trace. That means you’re depriving others of your knowledge and letting them make the same mistake.

I had an awkward situation earlier this year. My most read post of all time was why join the Toronto Board of Trade, which I wrote in 2011. Times change and I felt compelled to leave. I didn’t want to say why but knew I had an obligation to be forthright. I wrote about the reasons for leaving and suffered some consequences. Even now, many more read my reasons for joining (still the #1 post ever and #3 last month) than my reasons for leaving. That’s their choice. I did my part.

Pause

Suppose you’re annoyed that your french fries are cold. That may not be a good reason to blog (or even tweet). It’s wise to prepare a draft and wait at least a day before deciding if your content is worth sharing.

Can you extract lessons that have general, lasting value? Can you show proof (e.g., screen shots, photos or recordings)? Do you know of other options?

You may suppress names unless they’re relevant (e.g., in diluting the soup). That doesn’t mean suppressing what you know needs to be said.

Links

• Does your email address says you’re cheap. generic and inattentive?
• Show your rough edges to unleash revenue
• Forget about who wins and loses
• image courtesy of nextrecord

PS You can also write about great experiences (e.g., great customer service from Rogers)

BUILDING TRUST IN A TRANSPARENT WORLD

Have you noticed how the world has become transparent? We have instant access to information wherever our smartphones have a signal (and reasonable roaming charges). We no longer have to guess. We can find out when we have a doubt.

As a result, we find example after example of how our trust has been violated. Here are assorted examples from @trustandyou:

• Lance Armstrong will likely keep most of his wealth
• A University of Toronto researcher self-plagiarized
• Hyundai and KIA overstated gas mileage
• An advisor admits defrauding clients of $1 million
• Trust in the BBC drops to 45% after the Jimmy Salvile scandal
• The Pope’s ex-butler leaked confidential papers
• The “Chinese Warren Buffett” committed fraud
• Big pharma misbehaves more than the arms trade ($20 billion in fines over 20 years)

Each person, company, or sector looked worthy of trust but betrayed us. In this environment, who do you trust? Who trusts your business? Who trusts you?

Get Started

Building trust was never easy. Building trust in a transparent world is tougher. The process starts with you.

You need to be worthy of trust in the eyes of others. That requires chemistry (people like you), credentials (you can do the work) and congruence (you keep promises).

Your ongoing generosity is a powerful tool to build trust when visible online. Here's why:

• chemistry: strangers get to know you, which helps them like you and choose you
• credentials: you demonstrate your up-to-date abilities
• congruence: you show that the interests of your clients come first (e.g., you advocate for them)

Be Visible

To stand out in a transparent world, you must be visible. Yes, that’s scary but if you hide, you are invisible. You disappear as an easy-to-examine option.

Think of billboards. Companies spend plenty to be visible but they start fading once the ads disappear. Which provider has the great Internet experience? What was that television show with that tough looking guy? Which yogurt has a special ingredient? We forget.

You control how visible you are. You know the basics. Have destinations like your LinkedIn profile or website. Have invitations and reminders to visit your destinations by posting regular updates where your target market can see them (e.g., places like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+).

Your Ingredients

Since expertise goes stale, you need ways to show that your learning is current and relevant. How are keeping fresh?
You can take free courses from universities like Stanford through Coursera.org. Show what you complete on your LinkedIn profile.

What books have you read and which ones are you reading? Show them on LinkedIn via the Reading List by Amazon plugin. Write about the book to verify that you did read it. Perhaps contrast/compare with other books to show deeper mastery. Your entire network gets informed when you update your list.

You can also learn for free online by doing a Google search. Show what you're finding that's valuable by posting links. I mainly share by LinkedIn and Twitter.

You have other options such as paid courses or personalized coaching. How you learn isn’t as important as showing that you’ve learned.

The best way to show mastery is by applying the lessons. You can create free instantly-accessible samples in the form of text, audio or video. Live presentations also help but reach a much smaller audience unless you also record and post them.

Repeat

Building trust in a transparent world takes continual effort. The rewards grow as you continue and others quit. What you do adds to what you’ve done. Your digital tapestry makes ever stronger impressions on each new visitor.

You're easier to find than ever before. You're also easier to dismiss.

Links

• The new prescription for trust
• Universal principle of influence #6: liking
• Two simple steps to endless referrals
• Rediscover Selling The Invisible from Harry Beckwith
• How to build trust and rapport
• What is your trust score?
• Building trust with networking (new)
• image courtesy of pschubert

PS Would you rather go back to the opaque world?

WHAT IS YOUR TRUST SCORE ON TRUSTCLOUD?

How much do your clients and prospects trust you? How much should your clients and prospects trust you?

Testimonials are necessary but not very convincing. Have you ever seen a bad one?

Trust can't be measured empirically but there are attempts to do just this. Enter TrustCloud. You get a score between 1 and 1000, where higher means better.

No scoring system will be perfect even if one puts you at the top. There is still merit in the quest. It’s interesting to see what gets rewarded.

You're A Believer

You may skeptical about algorithms but they already make predictions for you. Google predicts your search query as you type and gives results tailored for you. Amazon predicts what you may also want to buy. Netflix predicts what you want to watch (your personalized Top 10) and how much you'll like a movie (actual rating vs your projected rating).

The results keep improving.

Factors

TrustCloud looks at your activity on networks like Facebook, Google+, Klout, LinkedIn and Twitter. If you’re not active online, your score will suffer. That’s reasonable since it’s difficult to trust people who aren’t visible. What are they hiding? Why are they hiding?

TrustCloud gives you credit for participating in social media for years (Longtimer), networking (Connector) and having many people read your posts (Influencer). Your network can recognize you for virtues like accountability, compassion, generosity, punctuality and reliability.

Marketing Tips

TrustCloud is fairly new. You might as well sign up and see your grade. You'll also see ways to improve your score. You may have competitors who work in megacorps that restrict use of social media. That will hurt their scores and give you an edge.

Once you're comfortable with your score, start showing it. This achieves two goals

• transparency
• raises expectations (clients expect from others)

I'm currently 745/1000, which is considered Good but feels a tad embarrassing. I'd like at least 800 (Very Good). However, I wanted to make you aware of TrustCloud now.

Changing Behavior

Knowing you're being measured may spur you to improve your score. Even if you don't care how you compare, your clients and prospects might. Even if they’re indifferent today, tomorrow they may want to know.

There's nothing stopping you from engaging in virtuous behavior online. Now you get rewarded too.

Other Measures

You may already be familiar with measures of influence like Klout or PeerIndex. They are worth using too.

Links

• TrustCloud website
• TrustCloud rates how people do business online (Wall Street Journal, June 2012)
• The ROI on social media, reputation and a hungry rabbit
• Signs of the wrong social media expert

PS For all trust all the time, follow @trustandyou on Twitter

HOW TO RESPOND TO BAD NEWS

Last time, we looked at ways to monitor what’s said about you online. What do you do if what’s said isn’t very nice?

Ignore

You can ignore bad news but that doesn’t mean Google will forget.

If you’re looking for a hotel near the Mackinac Bridge (Wikipedia), you’ll find reviews on TripAdvisor. For example, the Mackinaw Beach and Bay is ranked #3 in Mackinaw City, Michigan. Of the 263 reviews, 85.2% are Excellent or Very Good. That’s impressive but the three most recent reviews are not. They say

• “Terrible service and breakfast”
• “Just okay”
• “Nice suites but needs improvement”

The hotel staff haven’t bothered to respond. Maybe the place was great but deteriorated recently. Maybe the reviewers are whiners. Either way, a casual review reader may book elsewhere.

Respond

Taking action shows you’re attentive. That’s a good sign.

You can comment where the criticism appears but you’ll look biased … which you are. If you’re not comfortable expressing yourself on the permanent public record, you might cause more damage. Attacking the attackers is tempting but rarely effective.

You benefit most when others speak on your behalf … unless they’re perceived as biased. Comments from co-workers, friends and family don’t count for much.

Who has a megaphone and would vouch for you?

Nurture Your Network

You can't harvest a crop you haven't planted and nourished. You can't get your message out effectively unless you've nurtured your network. What have you done in the past? What do you do on a regular basis?

Stephen Covey referred to the Emotional Bank Account. We have a  balance with everyone. We make deposits and withdrawals.

Meeting in person is great but how do invest in the relationship in between? Don't expect much if you call and say, "We met last year. I was wondering if you'd help me out by ..."

Social media augments what you’re already doing — if you show consistent persistent generosity. As a bonus, you'll know who wants to maintain contact with you because they must opt in and can easily opt out.

Bad Example

I’ve got a connection who posts continual updates about a new marketing program. Self-promotion does not grow an Emotional Bank Account. As a test, I sent an email with a tip and got no reply. The launch seems to have fizzled.

Do Good Things

If you are visible online, your digital tapestry gives you advantage. If you help your connections, you’ve got allies. Be good and do good.

Links

• The Emotional Bank Account (wellrounded.me, Feb 2011)
• Three networking nuggets from Donna Messer
• Three tips to master networking events
• Monitoring what’s said about you
• How sorry is Jonah Lehrer for his plagiarism and lies? (new)
• image courtesy of Sujit Mahapatra

PS Would you stay at the hotel in the example?

THREE PROACTIVE WAYS TO BOOST YOUR CREDIBILITY

Here are three proactive ways to look more credible:

1. Write
2. Speak
3. Get media attention

Let's assume you are already credible but the world doesn't know this.

Write

Creating original content helps set you apart because so few bother to do the work. You need something worth saying and the ability to say it. You can get better at both.

Blogging is an easy way to start. You've got complete freedom in content, length and style. The challenge is sticking with it. As you do, you'll get better and stand out more. You've then got content to share with Followers via Twitter and other social networks. You also have a head start for writing a book.


If you'd rather talk, then podcast. If you have a knack for showing, YouTube awaits you. Creating content is less painful --- perhaps even enjoyable --- when you pick the right medium.

Speak

If you're on the stage rather than seated in the audience, you will look more credible. You've been endorsed by the organizers. You might even get paid.

Writing helps you create and polish content for your talks.

Are you a good enough speaker? You can practice and improve at Toastmasters. That’s why I finally joined. My club, Goodyear Toastmasters in West Toronto, has a blog for writing practice.

Get Media Attention

If you're interviewed for newspaper, magazine, radio or TV, you have a nice outside endorsement. Don't expect immediate business. Do make reference to the interviews in your subsequent marketing. For instance, add links to the sources or provide additional resources (example).

Are you a good interviewee? If you've been writing and speaking, you probably have opinions you're willing to share in public. You probably know how to express yourself in engaging and concise ways.

TIP: To find out who journalists want to interview right away, join Help A Reporter Out (HARO) and Reporter Connection. Both are free.

Reporters have tight deadlines and may want to talk to someone like you. That’s what happened when I got interviewed by the Toronto Star about marketing and The Globe and Mail about income replacement.

Follow potential interviewers on Twitter. Retweet some of their tweets. Perhaps they'll Follow you. You can now exchange Direct Messages with them, where appropriate. If they're inviting you to connect on Facebook, you've got another opportunity to stay in touch.

Overlap

All three ways to credibility are free and interrelated. You get paid with attention which brings more attention. You build skills in one area which builds skills in another. There's nothing stopping you from starting.

Links

• Getting interviewed by a journalist
• The six elements of credibility
• Universal principle of influence #3: authority
• Are you a parrot or a pundit?
• The why and how of writing a book
• Why I finally joined Toastmasters
• Picking the right medium for your message
• The seven elements of dynamic personal influence
• HARO crowdsources news sources (Wired, Sep 2009)
• image courtesy of Mr.Papeete

PS How do you boost your credibility?

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.

THE THREE BIGGEST MISTAKES YOUR CLIENTS MAKE

In an article about home insurance, the writer asks her advisor for the three most common mistakes clients make. Here they are:

• buying too little
• buying the wrong stuff
• skipping add-ons

Yes, the list looks self-serving. Each item puts the blame on the buyer. Each fix puts more money in the seller’s pocket. Where’s the credible evidence to backup the assertions? Let’s ignore those biases.

Does the list get you thinking about your own coverage? Probably. That makes the list effective.

Your World

What mistakes do your current and potential clients make without even knowing? Make a list and share it with them. A list from a credible third party is even better. You can even take an article from a third party and add to it.

Can you contradict conventional thinking? For instance, Malcolm Gladwell argues that in 50 years Steve Jobs will be forgotten but Bill Gates will be remembered. You might not agree, but don't you want to know why Malcolm said that and perhaps give your opinion? Here's disagreement from Forbes. As a side benefit, Malcolm is getting free publicity.

Types Of Lists

You can make different types of lists:

• the biggest mistakes
• the biggest surprises
• the most common ______
• the newest ______
• the most overlooked ______
• …

You can use formats other than lists (e.g., articles, ads). Instead of three items, you could have less (“the biggest ______”) or more (“31 things you must know about ______”). You’ve got lots of options. Become a trusted resource and show your passion in helping your clients.

If you’re short on ideas, setup Google Alerts for relevant daily updates. All free.

Who's Fault?

If your clients aren't educated on what they need or may want, how can they make optimal decisions? They might buy less or buy wrong because they don't know any better. When the fire truck is at the door, it's too late to upgrade the home insurance.

If clients don't understand, they can't tell their connections to follow their lead. Buyer beware unaware.

Links

• The wake-up call to homeowners insurance (boston.com, June 2012)
• Gladwell: In 50 years, people will forget Steve Jobs (CNN, June 2012)
• Why Malcolm Gladwell is wrong about Steve Jobs, in three words (Forbes, June 2012)
• Three ways to beat the market leader
• Three overlooked ways to a competitive edge
• Three marketing essentials for today
• How do you show passion in your work?
• Google Alerts: track what matters to you
• image courtesy of Amanda White

PS If the biggest mistake is to buy what you're selling, reconsider what you offer ...

WHAT MATTERS MORE THAN WINNING AN AWARD?

Congratulations to winners of the Business Excellence Awards from the Toronto Board of Trade! The gala took place on November 9, 2011. I was nominated and ... lost.

Is that why I'm saying something else matters more than winning an award? You may think so but I drafted this post well before the outcome was known.

The Winner Is ...

I used to love awards. The best album of all time. The Academy Award for Best Picture. The Car of the Year. Over time, I started finding that I could make my own decisions and did not always agree with the judges. I started to question authority (the third universal principle of influence).

Instead, I turned to what James Surowiecki calls the wisdom of crowds: as a group, we're smarter than the smartest amongst us. I started to rely on consensus (the fifth universal principle of influence), rather than authority

The Crowd

The Internet gives us instant access to lots of relevant crowds. Goodbye Consumer Reports.  I'll now look at Amazon, IMDB or other sites depending on what I'm evaluating.

Where are you getting advice these days? What about your customers? Are you visible where they are looking?

Netflix gives personalized recommendations based on your past viewing preferences. You see how others rated a film and even a prediction of your rating. That's nifty and works surprisingly well. You can also read reviews from other Netflix members. There's no need to see what newspaper reviewers say or to visit IMDB.

Inconsistency

I was recently invited to judge a Toastmasters speech contest and declined. However, I attended and saw 13 contestants in two categories. Since we were given blank scoring sheets, I used them. The real judges selected different winners every time. This suggests the outcome could easily have changed with different judges. That's comforting and discomforting.

I also noticed that I formed impressions of the contestants before they even spoke. Malcolm Gladwell investigates snap judgments in Blink.

If other attendees also judged the contestants, their combined scores could have shown the collective wisdom of the room. Would the outcome have differed?

Causality

An award shows the decision of the judge(s) at one point in time. Awards needn't translate directly into an ongoing increase in revenue. Prospects may not notice or care. Would an award entice you to switch between Coke/Pepsi, pizza chains or realtors? Is an award from last year, still relevant today?

More Important

Awards are given on the basis of objective criteria but we don't make buying decisions logically. Trends matter more than winning an award.

Trends show patterns. If you earned other forms of recognition, the new award is further evidence of your excellence. If you only have the one award, your win could be seen as an anomaly, like a small lottery prize.

Suppose that The Tipping Point was a success but Malcolm Gladwell's other books flopped: Blink, Outliers and What The Dog Saw. How eagerly would you await his next title? Since all his books were well-received, the trend raises expectations for the next book.  The successes build upon each other. Malcolm was awarded the Order of Canada earlier this year. That's noteworthy by itself and consistent with his other accomplishments.

In the absence of a trend, an award winner might be a one-hit wonder.

Links

• The Business Excellence Award winners (Toronto Board of Trade website)
• The Business Excellence Awards: a nominee's view
• Universal principle of influence #3: authority
• Universal principle of influence #5: consensus
• Outliers: mastery plus opportunity trumps talent (Malcolm Gladwell)
• Listening to What The Dog Saw (Malcolm Gladwell)
• Expectations change experiences: what do you call yourself?
• Gently remind others about what you do
• The foolproof measure of trust
• image courtesy of Mizth (Norway)

PS Winning awards is nice too :)

ARE YOU A PARROT OR A PUNDIT? (#word11)

(Supplementing my workshop at the Word11 blogging festival.)

When I talk about social media, I say that curating is an easy to way to prove your intent and build trust. That's true but not enough. I said that to nudge you to get shipping content. At Word11, I explained there's a higher level and shared the best tool.

Stage 1: Parrot

Like a parrot, you recirculate links that others have found. You simply press the button for Like (Facebook), +1 (Google+) or Retweet (Twitter).

Shortcut: If you want, you can focus entirely on LinkedIn for curating. That's an excellent environment to master. Connect Twitter, you can send your updates there too.

Stage 2: Pundit

As you parrot, you master the tools of social media. You get faster and better. You build a following. Continue your curating but now become a pundit too. Creating content is more valuable that repeating what others say. Your followers may parrot you.

Blogging is the best way to create content. Here are three reasons why blog posts rule.

1. Easy to create
2. Easy to find
3. Easy to consume

Easy to create

You don't need special equipment to blog. That's assuming you already have a computer, netbook or tablet. If not, how are you reading this post?

You don't need to worry about having a good microphone or camera. You don't need to talk a course in Photoshop or digital video editing. You don't even need an Internet connection when you're writing.

Right now, I'm composing the initial draft at a desk at the Centre for Social Innovation Annex. There's noise and people are talking. That doesn't matter as I type on my iPad.

Easy To Find

Unless you're writing only for yourself, you might as well make your content easy to find. Google keeps getting better at indexing images and video, but they are best best at indexing text.

Easy To Consume

Blogs are easy to read on many devices. I’d have trouble listening to a podcast or watching a video where I am right now while writing but I can easily read text.

But ...

Creating content takes more time. That’s why there’s more value. Instead of writing this post, I could have Retweeted or Liked dozens of times. Those updates would quickly vanish in minutes, hours or days. Try finding an update from last week. A blog post lasts and makes a bigger mark on your digital tapestry.

If you're not convinced about the power of blogging, watch this short clip from Seth Godin and Tom Peters.


What do you think now and who will you tell?

Links

• Word11 blogging festival review: part 1 and part 2 (Brian Anderson) (new)
• Building trust with blogging at Word11
• The best way to measure intent
• Your digital tapestry
• How to write better faster
• images: parrot from Sarah Williams (Australia) and  pundit from Esa Oksman (Finland)

PS If video is more effective for your niche, consider having a transcript for readers and search engines.

THE DETOUR TO PROVING YOUR EXPERTISE

The usual way to sell Q is by showing your expertise in Q.

There's another way. Show your expertise in R (something else) to imply your expertise in Q. This works best if

1. your expertise in Q is indisputable
2. R is more interesting than Q

Twist Mitch

Mitch Joel gives great presentations and writes a thought-provoking blog, Six Pixels of Separation. He rarely discusses the marketing services his firm, Twist Image, provides. Yet, I’m left feeling that he and his team must be excellent at what they do. Perception becomes reality.

You probably have your own examples. Maybe you see someone who’s devoted to fundraising. Don’t you figure they’re generous, successful and excellent at what they sell?

Transference isn't guaranteed. You may be a wonderful singer but that doesn’t mean you’re great at fixing leaky basements. There’s such a disconnect.

Why Detours Work

How you do anything is how you do everything.
— T Harv Eker

What you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
— Stephen Covey

People may have trouble gauging how good you are at what you sell, especially if you provide a service. Both quotations show why the four habits of the highly referable are so powerful: they imply you do other things well.

What do your clients really want? Probably to increase their revenue without buying what you sell. Help them reach their goals and they'll assume you're great at what earns you money. Why wouldn’t they then hire you or refer you? That’s reciprocity and authority in action, two of the universal principles of influence.

The Core

To imply expertise, first become excellent at the core of what you do. Apply the 10,000 hour rule and then expand. This will be easy for you but difficult for others to copy since few push through The Dip to mastery.

Example

I've designed life & health insurance products and advised top advisors. When I blog or speak about marketing, you’re likely inferring that I’m still expert in the dull world of insurance. Why discuss marketing? That topic opens more doors and attracts large audiences. Discussing social media has been especially effective since 2008.

What you sell may be seen as a periodic unpleasant purchase. You might not get repeat business for years. If you have a more appealing topic, you’re more likely to maintain ongoing contact. Maybe your magnet is your hobby?

You might even find another stream of revenue.

Do You Charge?

Marketers like Dan Kennedy advise you to sell everything you can: a better mousetrap, a book/video bundle on how to design mousetraps, a seminar and a paid newsletter. Maybe that would work for you.

I've been offered money for my marketing help. I've refused for two reasons. First, I'd get distracted. Success comes from focus … which comes from saying no … which frees up time to focus. Second, my advice would be less credible. You make more money when others rely on you (selling them fish). Without any marketing services to sell, I focus on sharing quick ways to self-sufficiency (teaching them to fish). That works well.

The scenic route is more enjoyable than the boring freeway. You never know who you’ll meet along the way.

Links

• Lessons from Networking With Millionaires by Thomas J Stanley
• The four habits of highly referable people
• The 10,000 hour rule: mastery plus opportunity trumps talent
• image courtesy of New Zealand Transport Agency

PS Would a detour help you too?

THE MOST BASIC MARKETING SKILL

All of us learn to write in the second grade. Most of us go on to greater things.
— Bobby Knight

To market, you must be able to create and refine content.

That makes writing the most basic marketing skill. Writing lets you express your thoughts. Editing lets you refine them to convey what you really intended. You learn during this iterative process. Sometimes you get reach the magical A-HA when everything melds.

Why?

There's no real cost to writing. You don't need permission, a budget or a team. You don't need the latest gadget or extra batteries. All you need is a writing implement (e.g., pen, pencil, marker, crayon) and a writing surface (e.g., paper, napkin, whiteboard).

Writing reveals ambiguity early when changes are easy and inexpensive. Others can review your ideas: commenting is easier than the original creation.

But …

If you're not good at writing, there's still hope: you can brainstorm in a team with diverse skills and assign a scribe.

If you don't like writing, why not learn? You'll then have a valuable portable skill for life. You'll improve with practice. You'll get better at using social media (e.g., leaving comments on blog posts like this one).

Only Writing?

If you're better with visuals than words, that's fine. You're still using a medium that lets you invent, edit and iterate. You'll still creating a prototype and applying the second habit of highly effective people: beginning with the end in mind.

If you prefer talking, you can use a tool like Dragon NaturallySpeaking to transcribe your words into text for editing.

There's no downside to improving your skills. Once you have the words

Links

• The best way to capture your thoughts
• Talk > Type: Dragon NaturallySpeaking
• image courtesy of Peter Galbraith (New Mexico)

PS A picture may tell a thousand words but you'll need words eventually (even if only to describe the picture).

MAKE YOUR VIEWS PUBLIC TO STAND OUT

You better stand for something or you're gonna fall for anything — John Mellencamp

In today's competitive landscape, taking a stand helps you command attention while noise bombards your clients.

You probably believe in the likes of honesty, integrity, accountability and service. Without proof, they're hollow words. What you say quickly vanishes but what you write can last.

Why not go on the permanent public record with your considered views? This is an easy way to set yourself apart over time. Some will be drawn to you, even if they don't agree with you. That's the power of sharing your convictions.

Go where your clients already gather, rather than where your competitors flock. You're bound to discover blogs and communities.

My Company Won't Let Me

How would your company know what you're doing from home? Be discreet. Setup an anonymous email account (e.g., Gmail) and identity. Find relevant articles on blogs or newspaper websites. If you're not sure how to proceed, observe. If you're worried about making mistakes, get more media savvy (Mitch Joel's blog).

Start leaving comments under a consistent pseudonym. Comments like "great post" add to the noise. You want to move conversations forward and see how others respond to your contributions. Do this effectively and your influence will expand as you establish your authority (principle #3) and liking for others (principle #6).

As your confidence and skills grow, get bolder and switch to using your real name (if allowed).

My Company Will Let Me

You still need to be careful in what you say. You're an ambassador for your firm. Again, you may want to start anonymously. Maybe you'll find you have so much to say that you start blogging.

Real Name

If using your real name makes you uncomfortable, ask yourself why. We state our opinions continuously. What's the problem in recording them? If your views change, so can your opinions.

When issues that concern your clients arise, support their causes. Becoming their advocate is a key strategy in Networking With Millionaires by Dr. Thomas J Stanley. Support their causes and let them know you're with them. Some hills are worth fighting over.

How can you stand out if you won't take a stand?

Links

• Six ways to get more media savvy (Mitch Joel)
• The six most influential word groups
• Networking with millionaires by Dr. Thomas J Stanley
• Universal principle of influence #3: authority
• Universal principle of influence #6: liking
• image courtesy of peejay (US)

PS For practice, why not give this post a Rating and leave a Comment?

MARKETING LESSONS FROM THE NMA PHILANTHROPIC WORKSHOP AT SCHULICH

This year, I've focused on helping the philanthropic world by applying the first half of the fifth habit of highly effective people: seek first to understand and then to be understood.

The Nonprofit Management Association at the Schulich School of Business hosted the Philanthropic Leadership Workshop on Black Friday. The speakers were

• Marcel Lauzierre, President, Imagine Canada
• Jon Duschinsky, author of “Philanthropy in a Flat World”
• Susan Storey, Vice President, KCI (Ketchum Canada Inc.)
• Kevin Donavan, investigative journalist, Toronto Star

Each had a different perspective and made thought-provoking points.

Loving yourself and what you do is fine unless stakeholders feel cheated. You'll see that charities face major marketing challenges. You may notice parallels with your own industry too.

Marcel Lauzierre, President, Imagine Canada

Marcel identified three major concerns for the charitable sector.

1. There's public demand for an easy way to rank charities. The MoneySense Charity 100 is considered simplistic, but a start.
2. The CBC reported that $762 million of donations went to private fundraisers from 2004-2008 and 869 readers left comments. In a poll, 96% said it's very important to know where donations go.
3. There's a proposal to cap compensation for fundraisers (Bill C-470) — unique in the world.

We're not talking about tobacco here. We're talking about an industry committed to doing good. Yet the demands for transparency and accountability haven't been addressed. That's an invitation for scrutiny and intervention by politicians.

Is your industry proactive in satisfying the demands of stakeholders?

Susan Storey, Vice President, KCI (Ketchum Canada Inc)

Here are the four minimum requirements for fundraising today:

1. Be compelling: have a sharp, relevant case for giving
2. Be respectful: the donors are individuals
3. Be flexible: allow different ways of giving (could be time or referrals)
4. Be patient: cultivating relationships and getting decisions takes time (also true if you're using the ORDER sales model)

Does your business have the same issues?

Jon Duschinsky, author of Philanthropy in a Flat World

There's so much choice. France has 1.2 million charities. You probably have many competitors too (including client indifference).

Can you organize your business so that the more good you do, the more money you make? If so, you've got a strong incentive to do good. Here's a great example.

How can you argue with a business model like Tom's Shoes One for One? There's appeal even if the shoes aren't comfortable.

Jon, the "Dr. Who of Fundraising", is a powerful, engaging presenter. He'd be a great speaker for TEDx — maybe even TED.

Kevin Donovan, Investigative Journalist, Toronto Star

Kevin has investigated over 100 charities. Thirty lost their licenses.

He identified four problems with charities

• too many (over 80,000)
• too easy to start
• too little accountability
• too expensive to run (high costs)

There's no umbrella group that publicly addresses misconduct. There's no organization to which charities must belong (the closest is Imagine Canada). Is Kevin a hero or villain? After he spoke, I'd say hero.

Are you part of an organization that supports your industry? Perhaps a board of trade or industry organization?

Links

• Schulich Nonprofit Management Association website
• Quotable quotes: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
• Let's Get Real: Mahan Khalsa brings ORDER to sales chaos
• Does billionaire Seymour Schulich help you Get Smarter?
• The foolproof measure of trust
• image courtesy of Robert Aichinger (Austria)

PS Paul Nazareth is organizing a Meetup for Philanthropic Linchpins on December 7, 2010 in Toronto. Last time we were featured in Linchpin Magazine.

PICKING THE BEST MEDIUM FOR YOUR MESSAGE

When you put content online, you leverage your time and help clients find you. What's wrong with that?

The best medium for you is the medium you like best.

If you like talking then podcast. Instead of speaking into a telephone, you use a microphone. You'll get better results with a better quality equipment.

If you like showing then use video. If you like drawing on paper or whiteboards, record that. Ditto if you like using PowerPoint or giving speeches. For better results, consider using a video camera and a better quality microphone.

If you like writing then blog. This is my preferred format. You don't need special equipment or a pristine environment. Pen and paper are enough for a draft. Iterations boost quality and are easy to make. Also, search engines are best at indexing text.

Comfort with your medium helps you come across as natural. Exuding your personality is a great way to show your uniqueness.

What About Your Clients?

The best medium for your clients is the medium they like best. That may not be your preferred choice. Despair not. Clients consume different media and will probably "tolerate" your choice.

The media are interrelated. Transcribe your podcast with a tool like Dragon NaturallySpeaking and you'll have text for a blog post. Dictate your blog post and you have a podcast or video.  Extract the audio from a video and you have a podcast.

When I write a blog post for Riscario Insider, I read it aloud to ensure the style is conversational. With minimal work, that becomes the Riscario Radio podcast — 93 episodes already. Video is next … once I figure out how to use a teleprompter and do the editing. The soundtrack could then become the podcast, saving a step.

The key is getting started and mastering a medium.

Add Polish

You needn't be perfect when you start. There's lots of time to improve later.

To expand reach, Coke comes in cans and bottles of different sizes. As you gain experience, your best strategy is to use different media.

For instance, I released Does billionaire Seymour Schulich help you "Get Smarter" in two formats:

• podcast 20: downloaded 1,378 times
• blog post: read 918 times

Using only one medium would have slashed the audience.

Invisible

Making yourself visible is quick, simple and often free. The key is starting and sustaining momentum. 

Links

• How to make your "cherry farm" worth picking
• The best way to capture your thoughts
• How to prepare, promote and practice a brand-new presentation
• Riscario blog, podcast and wiki
• Talk > Type: Dragon NaturallySpeaking
• Seven questions to describe your business
• image courtesy of Yamamoto Ortiz (Brazil)

PS If you're not happy with your initial results, you needn't publish them. You're in control.