Archive for the 'Media' Category

Sep 01 2011

Generalist? Priceless. Specialist? Worthless.

Marketing, advertising,

 

PR and sales

                                  

industry-specific 

 

experience?

                  

Worthless.

 

An Opinion 

SALES

Give me a guy who can sell ketchup, propane, decorative plants, dental insurance, or rubberbands any day over a techie geek to sell your iPads, TVs, Wii programs, or Kindles. Geeks sell geeks. Sales pros sell people. Why think small when your opportunities are big? The geek market is small. Find people who are experts at serving customers, and teach them product/service knowledge.

Looking for an exceptional salesperson for your new snack products? Stop looking in the snack product industry. Find someone who sells railroad cars full of dorm furniture to universities. Surgical supplies? Get your search engine out of the med school dropout arena and find a classy cosmetics presenter with a sparkling, eager-to-learn  personality.

Oh, and remember that great salespeople don’t make great sales managers. Only great managers make great sales managers.

                                                 

PR

Find a freelance writer who has some psychology background and who can write some slam-bang persuasive headlines and sentences for all kinds of products and services– someone who is tenacious in follow-up efforts. Forget about established, specialist PR firms and groups who tend to be more interested in their names than yours. 

The public relations field is a breeding ground for con artists. I’ve seen top PR firms charge $25,000 a month and produce zero. If they can’t make what you have to sell be exciting, you lose. If they can’t follow up fanatically to get writers, reporters, editors, producers, and publishers pouncing on your story, you lose. You can teach someone with diverse quality PR experience about your industry media. 

                                            

ADVERTISING

Skip right over any provider who claims expertise in your field, unless you’re willing to spend lots of money to make no impact. Hospital advertising is a great example. It’s pathetic. Does “Excellent People” and “We Care” float your boat? Hospitals and banks are the perfect examples of advertising waste.

Get a person or small team on board who want to help you make a difference, who know how to ignite and cultivate creative thinking applications that get results. Just because something looks nice and is clever or informative doesn’t mean that it works. It may only mean that the agency is seeking to win a design award.

Don’t settle. Do your homework and due diligence. Then teach her/him/them about your business and industry.

                                    

MARKETING

Not “marketing” like healthcare people think: physician office visits with armsful of popcorn, candy, 6-foot subs, sports and concert tickets. That’s called payola, as in bring ‘em gifts and they’ll prescribe or recommend or buy your products. It’s also called bribery, and it borders on STARK Law and other ethical violation issues. 

And not marketing like Fortune 500 companies hellbent on analysis paralysis before even considering a potential packaging design, pricing structure, promotional flyer, merchandising gimmick or ad headline. Part of why big companies have too much at stake to be entrepreneurial has to do with the astronomically wasted expenses involved in frivolous product and service development and meaningless market research.

You don’t need an army of “experienced (Fill in any specialty here) marketing pros.” You need a person or small team who have a proven track-record for producing results in a variety of fields. Diversity, flexibility, and common sense abilities to work with an Objective/Strategy/Tactics framework in all types of media are what count more than “industry-specific.”

P.S. Beware “Social Media Marketing Experts” who don’t understand marketing. There are plenty of them. 

                                    

THE KEY

It’s easy to teach experienced marketing/advertising/sales/PR people what they need to know about your product or service to most effectively represent it. But it’s nearly impossible to teach industry and professional practice-specific experienced people how to market, advertise, publicize and sell.

                                        

Specialization Closes Minds 

                                        

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Aug 26 2011

Mother Nature Beats Business

SURPRISE HURRICANE-PROMPTED SUNDAY POST TONIGHT. NEXT POST MONDAY OR WHEN POWER IS ON. PLEASE CHECK BACK . . .

                                                                       

Another storm,

 

another dollar.

                  

 Hey, life happens. 

 

Stop whining!

                          

Besides,

 

breathing beats cash.

 

                   

There comes a time (a few actually) in every life, when we business owners and entrepreneurs must take a back seat to Mother Nature. You DO remember her? I’m not talking about over-the-top dirtpeople, or eco-freaks who launch themselves into hysteria with every stepped-on ant or toilet flush.

I’m referring to cataclysmic shifts in the planetary forces of nature that stop businesses dead in their tracks, that cannot be dismissed or disregarded or wiggled around. I know it’s hard to own up to the fact that anything could be more important than business . . . yet, looming out there under the signs, ads, and brochures, is life!

Here we quake-inexperienced East-Coasters are emerging out of an unheard of earthquake, the 5.8 magnitude of which –though nonchalantly considered routine by West Coast standards (I mean, what isn’t?)– was sufficient test of our mettle . . . and: CABOSH! Along comes a Hurricane heralded as major by all the IM (Irresponsible Media).

I’m reminded of Rob Bell’s quote in his courageous, easy-read book, LOVE WINSThe quote refers to tangles born of the politics of religion, but seems to me to fit the media hurricane circus and pandemonium we’ve been bombarded with for five days:

“Sometimes what we are witnessing

is simply a massive exercise

in missing the point.”

                                                

Who’s not fed up with mainstream media’s overkill –and frequently contrived– ”storm tracking” coverage? Enough already! Sports belong to ESPN; leave hurricanes to TWC. Stop with all the prima donna network weather forecasters (Whoops, I mean “Meteorologists”) who can barely find the maps they swoop their hands over. 

Of course no one wishes storm destruction and risks of life and injury to others, and of course there are many calls for reminders to be prepared in an impending hurricane but please, media people . . . give us a break. Your relentless focus on doom and gloom, is –all by itself– enough to send people flying off city rooftop gardens!

Well, okay, your heavy-handed scare tactic broadcasts did at least serve to convince Mr. O that he’d be storm-safer at the White House than puttering around a reported $50,000 vacation week (his tenth this year? Must be nice) Martha’s Vineyard golfcourse.

Who could deny the (rapidly-growing-in-popularity)

  Obama Regime motto: “Leadership from behind”

                                                  

No doubt whatsoever he will once again seize the opportunity of a natural disaster to represent his sleeves-rolled-up self in the role of “return of the conquering and compassionate hero.” As business owners and managers, we have already seen too much of this too often. Were we to practice such falsity, our businesses would crumble.

Also without a doubt, we can count on the talking heads at CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, TNT and their affiliate braindead-behaving editors at The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, et al, to play it out for all the advertising dollars their sadly misguided Obama-obsessed bosses can muster.

The point that’s missed by all the sensationalist journalists is that the public gets it. Go through the updates and recommended preparation steps at scheduled news broadcasts. If and when the event actually occurs, lead up to it with information, not Chicken Little alarmist reports. Who cares what trees fell in Bongo-Bongo?

                                                      

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  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Aug 18 2011

A Sense of Urgency

Unless you’re a surgeon

 

or bombsquad defuser,

                         

 nothing gets done

                                      

  by standing still.

 

 

Yesterday we talked about constantly moving targets. We touched on the challenges presented by rapidly changing rules, attitudes, circumstances, and information access.

To impact consumer, employee, and supplier behaviors positively, entrepreneurs and small business owners must flex, adjust, adapt, and go with the flow.

We must also hustle.

                                                       

When problems surface, pounce on them. I’ve actually seen unsavvy (and ultimately unscuccessful business owners and managers walk away, pass the buck, blame others, close up and go home, and –in one instance– put a “Gone To Lunch” sign on the counter at 11:55am, and literally chase out eight customers who’d been waiting in line

. . . oblivious, obviously, to the common knowledge that every unhappy customer tells a minimum of ten other people who tell ten other people. So, in this case that makes 800 bad-mouth comments. Can your business survive that? (“Quick like a bunny” was my father’s motto; it always earned him big tips.)

Having a constant sense of urgency communicates leadership, compassion, integrity, authenticity, and professionalism. Others will assign those values to everything you are associated with — your products, services, ideas, and all of the people involved with your business. Pretty good return for zero dollar investment.

Don’t be so afraid of making mistakes. Yes, ”haste makes waste,” and ”failing to plan is planning to fail.” But you can’t run a business cornerstoned by trite expressions. When you take reasonable risks, you are not betting the farm, or running off to the nearest lottery window, racetrack, or casino with your gard-earned dollars.

Unless the task at hand requires some Herculian effort (e.g., securing a king-size mattress onto the roof of a Washington Bridge-bound VW) or is intricately detailed (e.g., drawing blood, folding a parachute), be on the alert about when you can hustle your muscle and please your customer or employee or vendor with a prompt response.

All of this takes an action attitude and a determination to “Git R Done,” but, hey that’s simply a matter of sleeping and exercising enough, eating right, and making the choice. This starts to sound like some kind of training camp? It is. If you’re going to make this all work, you have to choose to keep yourself in good shape, and stay with it! 

Try walking faster. Oh, and keeping a journal of response times for various tasks and services will give you a sense of where you are, where you need to be, and give you the information you need to improve the sense of urgency you deliver. What every day? No, but maybe a day or two a week to start, then a monthly check-up. 

Remember the Chinese proverb: “Talk Does Not Cook Rice.”   

                                                     

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

 Thanks for your visit and may God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Aug 15 2011

Badgering 101

Big-mouth

 

media muckity-mucks

                          

bullying your business?

 

Is it just me or are you as fed up as I am with all those annoying, pestering, mean-spirited, arrogant, nasty, intolerant, rude, feeble, badgering excuses for news reporters and interviewers that we see on mainstream media TV?

1) They are stupid!

2) They need to shut up and listen!

                                                                   

These people –and “these” includes nearly all of the biggest network news anchors and interview specialists– should be (willingly of course, in the interests of media integrity) duct-taped to the wall (nicely, with no circulation cut off), socks (clean ones you can breathe through) stuffed (gently) in their mouths and made to listen for just a minute or two to the answers that the objects of their insults provide to their printed questions. 

(Gee, Hal, say what you really feel. Hmmm. Well, no need to call out the ACLU, Law & Order’s SVU, or a friendly neighborhood SWAT Team, but it is a way to finally hear someone’s complete uninterrupted response; hey, you can un-duct them and give them lemonade after the questions are answered; how’s that?)

TV interrogations (er, interviews) are so relentlessly overbearing and obnoxious that audiences never get chance to hear responses that could make a difference. Have you seen or heard a single interview of any politician who’s not part of the Obama regime who has not been talked over and pummeled in the questioning process?

Even waterboarding might be kinder

                                   

Are you unconsciously absorbing media badgering techniques and integrating them into your dealings with partners, investors, employees, suppliers, customers? Are you sure?

                                                                             

I have yet to hear a talking-head question that’s not a camouflaged accusation. Is that little bit of manipulation finding its way into your business dealings? Are media people making it seem like an okay way to conduct yourself?

I mean we’re not talking about the sharpest tools in either shed when it comes to news people interviewing politicians, but come on now; someone’s going to be representing us, and it won’t be a media prima donna, right? As for your business . . .

If you are buying into these methods, you’re being psychologically bullied.

                                                        

If your ego is as big as the TV puppets you know we’re talking about here, so big that you have had to reduce yourself to bullying and badgering in order to create controversy and get industry or professional attention, for example, you are probably missing the defined purpose of your career.

News “Reporters” are. It’s their job to illuminate and enlighten . . . to report what happens. How many actually make that a priority? (I can name two out of thousands.)

The media people I speak of should only know what bitter, uninformed jerks they look like to their viewers. Clearly they have no regard for their own self-respect or anyone else’s who happens to disagree with the producers and owners who pull their puppet strings in order to win audience shares that attract corporate advertising dollars.

Too bad they’re so dependent, and so blindly convinced that they are digging for “the truth.” Nothing could be farther from . . .

Sure, everyone has heard their parents and grandparents start a sentence out with: “When I was growing up . . .”

And you know what? There’s enormous wisdom locked up in statements that start that way. 

But discovering those gems requires listening – opening ears, and minds, instead of rolling eyes.

                                                

So try this on: “When I was growing up, a “Reporter” was a respected observer, not a wise-guy loud-mouth more invested in self-promotion than in bringing enlightenment to reader/viewer/listener audiences. When Walter Winchell reported the news, he didn’t put an egotist spin into every statement. He was a professional.

Of course there were others. Just go to Bing and Google and find them. Start with Huntley and Brinkley, and Mike Wallace, and Paul Harvey. Oh, you say, but they weren’t 100% ethical either. Who says? Who is? And isn’t 90-something percent a whole lot better than single digits? What percent are you? What percent is your business?  

                                                        

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

 Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Aug 09 2011

Sell Global. Buy Local.

Do your part for the planet!

                      

Sell your local products 

                           

and services worldwide.

                         

~~~~~~        

Now we know for a fact (in spite of Mr. Gore’s ranting and raving), that there simply is no such thing as manmade global warming (which has clearly proven to be a figment of the man’s imagination), it’s probably time to turn up the planet’s heat with our businesses.
There’s no need to defend that global warming discrediting statement, by the way, just ask any credible scientist instead of the pseudo ones Mr. Gore carries in his pocket.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                                                            

There is no greater opportunity to market your goods and services outside the neighborhood, town, county, state, or region that you’ve been limiting yourself to . . . than now . . . with the Internet (Oh, and thank you again, Mr. Gore; where oh where would we ever be had you not invented it?).

Why “now”? Because, as my mother used to say, there’s no time like the present. How to do it? Like what are the steps?

Step number one is to cast aside the political creeps behind creeping Socialism (November 6, 2012). 

Step number two is to extract the small-mindedness from your brain that’s been locked in there, afraid to let you step outside your business comfort zone.

                                                 

With inexpensive –often free– media options to exercise (from emails and texting to Twitter, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn), you will gain by exploring (or expanding your mastery of, if you’re already dabbling) the market opportunities for what you sell. Now is the time to Action Plan your way into marketing your offerings worldwide.

Exactly where are those opportunities for you and your business? Odds are you know what they are and where they are, but you’ve simply not been willing or motivated enough to consider their pursuit. Be willing. Be motivated. Make that choice for yourself.

Stop thinking you need to be limiting local services and products you sell to the neighborhood or town that supports you.

If you truly care about your neighbors, help stimulate your local economy with global money!

                                                     

Illegal aliens have been doing it for years. They work in the U.S., typically tolerating inhumane living conditions in order to wire maximum amounts of American dollar wages earned to their desperate families in countries whose governments intentionally keep their people in poverty.

How about bringing other country’s money into your town? How about working to help change the opression of other countries’ governments to make them do a better job so that their people won’t want or need to come to the U.S. for their families to survive? Isn’t that a better, more permanent solution? 

Does it mean cracking down on illegal border entries and drug lords and war weapon distribution channels?

                                             

Absolutely, but isn’t that a smarter, better thing for our grandchildren than to continue with the Socialism share the wealth” mentality that strips away America’s freedom that small business job creation built, and that America’s servicemen and women have preserved?

I’m talking about the freedom that we have all earned and enjoyed, that strengthens core family values and that serves to undermine the terrorist acts, threats, and organizations that rise from the rubble of America’s economic weaknesses. 

It all comes back to the economy. And job creation. And America’s 30 million small businesses.

                                                                

With government support in the minus zone, there can be only ingenuity, innovation, self-reliance,  guts, and gumption. Are you up to it, or ready to go down without trying?

                                                   

There are no limits except

those in your mind.

And those limits are a choice.

                                             

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

 Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Jul 23 2011

NOW AND THEN . . .

The best source of business

                     

 is always existing and 

                        

 past business.

 

                         

What have you done lately about resurrecting contact with old friends and business associates? The amount of time, money and energy plowed into developing new business in new markets with customers and suppliers who’ve never heard of them is a phenomenal waste. Put the same effort and resources into those who already know you. 

Even brain-dead politicians know this. Why do they concentrate campaign efforts on those who have supported them in the past? Because to those people (voters), they’re known entities, and that alone is often enough to trigger contributions or in the case of business, sales. There’s no need to start the get-acquainted process from scratch.

“Go straight to the heart of the matter,”

(my father always told me!)

                                  

At the heart of winning more business in as catastrophic an economy as we’re living with, is the need to revisit, renew, and re-cultivate old friendships, old acquaintances, old customers and clients, old suppliers and vendors, old investors and lenders, old employees and employers, old partnerships and alliances. ALL former supporters.

These are people who you may have lost touch with (and perhaps on purpose), but with rapidly changing times often come changing more receptive attitudes. Someone who was an employee and left for a better career move may now be in a position of being a customer, or a referrer, or a supplier, or even an investor! How will you know? Ask.

Small business owners and managers typically avoid past contacts for many reasons, but none of those reasons (unless they would open some legal wounds) are good reasons for glossing over possible resources who have a favorable impression of you. Spend your time, money, and effort there instead of digging up new prospects!

When you communicate your message to someone who knows you, you can skip all the preambles; there’s no need to waste words explaining who you are and where you came from and how you do what you do. Go straight to the heart:  

  • “I know it’s been awhile, but I thought you’d be especially interested in . . . because . . .”

Or . . . 

  • “As soon as we put out this special (new product or service, warranty, price deal), I was reminded of how it would/might/does/could have great value/appeal/interest to/for you, and thought you may be interested in this ‘sneak preview’ of . . .”   

                                                                            

In the end, it’s all about consistently using the best sets of words to deliver your message, and targeting past and present business contacts which allows you to engage their interests without having to have them get past the preliminaries of who you are. That small difference puts you a giant step ahead in the sales or recruitment process. 

Oh, and a no-brainer by the way, you can also reach these people and get them to your website, store or office with personalized (free) emails or (inexpensive) postcards instead of extravagant network TV $pon$or$hip$.                                                                                                                 

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116 

  Open minds open doors. 

 Thanks for visiting. God bless you. 

   Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Jul 20 2011

Mind Your Social Media Manners!

TY, Thank You, THX,

                                    

Thanks, Appreciation,

                       

Appreciate, Appreciated,

                  

Appreciative, Grateful,

                               

Gratefulness, Gratified,

                          

Gratification,  tks, Please,

                        

Pls, YW, You’re Welcome!

 

 

Have you paid off  your TY IOUs lately? Do you have a list of them? Are they in some order? Which ones are the oldest? To whom do you owe more than one TY? What are they for? What were the circumstances? How long ago exactly was the favor or courtesy or thoughtfulness extended? Might it now be time to clean some of these up?

If you don’t have one, let’s start with a business list, then move on to personal, or vice versa if you prefer. I like to keep a thank you list next to my desk phone, divided into two columns: “Calls” and Emails.” I add to them during the day between meetings, other emails, and other calls, and cross out the ones I’ve handled as each day passes.

Why? Who Cares? EVERYone cares. Which also answers the question “Why?” Simply put, there can be no better investment of your time and energy for boosting your business and personal reputations. And sales pros will tell you that personal and business reputations built on these courtesies translate directly to sales.

Oh, and let’s not forget that long-lost art of a personal handwritten thank you note stuck in the mail or office inbox. There is NOTHING compares with receiving one of those. And the busier you are, the more impact a note from you has. In other words: The more personal you can make your expression of thanks, the greater the impact!

It’s hard to beat a message that has a little hug hanging on its coattails!

                                                       

Probably needless to add, but it’s well worth remembering: It’s also FREE, which makes it a no-brainer practice for business owners and operators, and especially for professional practice principals, who are seldom regarded as grateful for their patients and clients! 

Social media subscribers probably use the expressions in this post’s headline more than any other segment of society except Salvation Army Santas. It’s become standard fare Internet ettiquette. It’s the sub-culture of long-distance communications dipped in politeness and exchanged for the world to see, but seldom felt from the heart.

Twitterers send Tweets. If you like the Tweet, you respond mostly with a RE-Tweet (or RT) as a polite form of endorsement. Someone whose Tweet gets an RT, inevitably returns a TY (Thank You) note Tweet to that endorser. That endorser may send (Tweet) yet another note, like YW (You’re Welcome).

It’s said that these kinds of exchanges are all cover-ups for the acknowledged impersonalness of social media communications, that they somehow compensate for handshakes and eye contact and voice tone and inflections. Well, they don’t really. Not much could. But they do set social media cordiality apart from other media forms. 

Anyway, Thank you for visiting. I am truly grateful for the minutes you spent here, and if any of what I said is helpful to you in any way, well . . . YW.

                                                                                          

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116 

  Open minds open doors. 

 Thanks for visiting and God bless you. 

   Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

No responses yet

Jul 12 2011

Business All-Stars!

Don’t clutter up your

                                   

 Here and Now with a

                                    

What if” Dream Team
                                    

 At some time or another, every entrepreneur has a “Dream Team.” Very few, though, ever get the chance to activate it. Why? Because dreams–like hopes and wishes–are not reality.

 ____________________
                                                                     

But we all carry images in our minds of who we’d love to have on payroll, running our operations, finances, personnel (oops sorry, human resources) and marketing, leaving ourselves free to concentrate on product, service, and idea development… and sales!   

Oh well, we entrepreneurs can’t dream about an All-Star business team because… we have made ourselves into: e-n-t-r-e-p-r-e-n-e-u-r-s, and entrepreneurs are business people who do it all, at least until things get up and running, which typically takes 5-6 years, and often longer. So what’s an entrepreneur to do with all this dream stuff?

Can it. Save it in case you have to take a government job! Put it on the shelf. But don’t clutter your “here-and-now” with “what ifs.” Contrary to popular opinion, fueled by uninformed mainstream media people, entrepreneurs are not dreamers. They are parttime planners and full time doers. And they don’t bet the farm or buy lottery tickets.

Entrepreneurs take only reasonable risks. And most entrepreneurs recognize that one solid business plan will take them farther than a year of nightly fantasies. If you’re not sure about how to best put one (a business plan) together and seek help from an expert, by the way, contact Tim Berry.

If you’re not a talented marketing writer, hire one. Find someone to write your business plan narrative section who can digest your company mission, vision, track-record, marketplace, competition, and uniquenesses, and present you in the best possible light. Be prepared to pay well. It’s an investment in yourself and your business.

If you’re not an accountant, hire a CPA to do your business plan financial projections, and certify your balance sheet and income statement. Expect to pay well. It’s an investment in yourself and your business.

If you’re not an attorney, hire one to review your plan and provide the legal statements you need to avoid problems. Pay well. It’s a safety net for you and your business.

These are real issues that require real dollars. (Hmmm, maybe that’s why we dream so much?)

So, enjoy tonight’s All-Star Game and start out tomorrow with your Dream Team in a closet while you roll up your sleeves and get some kind of business plan planned. Fantasy is for children, artists and politicians (and maybe some of your off-hours), but only reality thinking can survive and thrive in this economy.

                                                                                                          

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116 

  Open minds open doors. 

 Thanks for visiting and God bless you. 

   Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Jul 11 2011

The Real Entrepreneurs

Many traditional marketers haven’t a clue . . .

                                                           

Real entrepreneurs

                                           

respond in an instant and 

                                  

develop ideas thoroughly

                              

from beginning to end.

 

                    

Today’s marketing people are not adapting well to current economic realities. They see themselves as part of the solution to a problem that they do not understand . . . one they are not trying hard enough to overcome.

The no-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel economy we’re presently in doesn’t, for example, automatically translate to everyone being interested in finding a better dollar deal. Instead, when budgets are restricted is when entrepreneurs need to invest more heavily in building long-term relationships, as they would expect of their own suppliers.

Traditional marketing pros are missing this.

They are still knocking themselves silly trying to fit business owners into their media and social media games and patterns and rate cards and strategies instead of adapting what they know to help entrepreneurs do more with less

. . . instead of pulling their chairs up to the same side of the table.

                                                                     

This doesn’t mean reinforcing the customer service department. It does mean building customer service into the job decription for every single employee. When every staffer is also a customer service specialist –poof!– you no longer need a customer service department! Nurturing long-term relationships becomes your new business. 

Marketing traditionalists are missing this point, and others like it. The “new” cyberspace marketing pros are also missing the point. First off, the whole world is NOT tuned into the Internet which means the perspective that every human on Earth is aware of Mashable, Tweets, BFs, DMs, clouds, and txtmsgs is false. So the perspective is warped.

Second, when traditionalists wrap their marketing strategies around media airtime, print space availabilities and “special rate card deal packages” or “online marketing and SEO experts” (most of whom are self-designated, unproven, and over-priced) parade out their website and email bells and whistles, entrepreneurs end up the losers. 

If you’re a small business owner, operator, or manager, you need to be looking AWAY FROM formula marketing solutions that do not bend over backwards for you the same way you bend over backwards for your customers.

This is not an economy where you can simply accept blanket marketing recommendations without questioning.

                                                                        

Marketing pros need to be thinking more like entrepreneurs. They need to be looking much harder at ways to market products and services for maximum impact without spending as much money as in the past. They need to be offering their services more on a performance incentive basis, and put their wallets where their mouths are. 

Entrepreneurs need to challenge marketing people more to get “more bang for the buck” and –by the same token — be willing to reward generously for performance. A marketing success that produces $1 million in new sales should be well worth a $250,000 or $300,000 fee because you end up with the balance — money you never had before! 

Bottom line: Get streamlined. Get simple. Look under new leaves. Push for impact and relationships instead of deals. Yeah, I know about car dealerships; but they’re in their own world. This post is about reality and your business. It’s about looking to Twitter instead of network TV, postcards instead of elaborate mailers, emails . . .

                                                                       

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

  Open minds open doors.

 Thanks for visiting and God bless you.

   Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Jul 06 2011

tempus fugit (time flies)!

“For though we slepe

                                           

 or wake, or rome, or

                           

 ryde, Ay fleeth the tyme.”

                                                                 

[c 1390 Chaucer Clerk's Tale]

                                                                                           

“Time flyeth away

                           

   without delay.”

                                          

[1639 J. Clarke Parœmiologia Anglo-Latina]

                                                              

What? You thought today’s generation was the only victim of flying time?

Sure, technology overload has plunked us all into the fast lane, but time –if we are to give the ancient quotes above any credibility– has no reputation for being a gracious host.

If you want more on the subject of “time flies,” click here

If you’re interested in what this has to do with your life and business right this very minute, click here.

 
Okay, now that we’ve gotten rid of all the English Lit bookworm Chaucer freaks and all the sleepless-in-entrepreneursville-work-all-day-and-party-all-night-immediate-gratification nut cases out there, let’s settle into some semblance of a time safety zone and discuss what’s going on with you and Old Man Time.
 
First of all, I am of the school of thought that time can fly, or it can drag it’s butt through slow-motion replays, and the only thing that really matters is  H-O-W  we spend our time. What is, in other words, the process of your life and work? What is it that you do, for example, that consumes a typical hour or day? Or are there no “typical” ones?
 
Are you crossing enough paths? Every crossed path is a potential connection for productivity and happiness, if you choose for it to be. Making that happen takes focused attention.
 
How hard is it for you to keep your attention focused? Even with those who claim ADD as a convenient diagnosis to avoid concentration, what works and what doesn’t? Surely there are varying degrees for all of us as to what can and does hold our attention. Average attention spans for citizens of industrialized nations continue to spiral downward. 
 
Regardless of rocketing technology and other causes, shorter attention spans mean that sales, marketing, educational, religious, political, financial, and entertainment-based presentations need to get to the point quicker.
 
When someone asks for the time, you answer by telling the person how to make a clock, at your own peril!
 
People seeking to purchase are simply not as interested in product and service features, or company history, as you are. It may be long-standing tradition in your company or organization to tell people the story of how Grandpa Beefjerky launched the business “on a shoestring” and with just two horses in 1868. But nobody cares.
                                                       

We live in a benefit-hungry world,

with no time to spare.

 
Prospective customers, clients, and patients need to hear the answer to “What’s in it for me?” immediately. If that message is good enough to “ring a bell,” they’ll likely be some attention span left to want to know more, and may possibly even get around to Grandpa Beefjerkey’s story. 
                                                                                                                     
Most people are resentful of others using their time even when they think they have plenty of it. Listen to any doctor’s waiting room full of retired seniors. Like gaining more employee compliance with workplace changes that are not imposed,  patience may be a virtue, but only when the choice to exercise it is yours.
                                                                                                                                     
What are you doing right this minute to make the most of your next one? How do you keep yourself sharp? What can you do now –or in the morning–that will help you make more of your time, that will help you make more of a difference? What do you need (really!) to get started? Then, hey, get started.  
 

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

  Open minds open doors.

 Thanks for visiting and God bless you.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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