May 2009 – Page 3

Working The Room Without Looking Like A Sleaze

I was talking to someone yesterday.
Although she had been the person
to approach ME,
she kept glancing across the room.
Finally, I gave up and walked across the room
to find out what was so interesting.

Susan RoAne in
How To Work A Room
says
“A roving eye gives the impression
of an insincere, hand-pumping Mr. Sleaze.
People always remember the room surfer.”

That ties into her other key message
“If you can tell someone is working a room,
that person is doing it wrong.”

When I attend a party,
my goal is to find ONE person
I can make a solid connection with.
Focus on quality not quantity.

Your Work It Reminder

With exciting developments ahead,
this is no time to slow down
on your business building.

Your clientk Work It Reminder Of The Week
comes courtesy of
Harvey Mackay in
Swim With The Sharks
Without Being Eaten Alive

“I have known successful salespeople
who were alcoholics, gamblers, liars, thieves…
but I have never known a successful salesperson
who sat on his ass all day.”

“You can do all those other nasty things
and still make a decent living.
But if you blow off your nine to fives
on useless, time-consuming behavior,
you will fail.”

Go out there
and do it!

Bonus quote from
Swim With The Sharks
Without Being Eaten Alive…

“Most sales manuals will tell you
that the most important thing
you are selling is yourself.
This book won’t.
In my opinion,
selling yourself can sometimes be a very bad idea…
because very often, my friend,
you and I are lousy products.”

The People Person Question

When interviewing,
don’t bother asking
anyone in a manager position
or above
whether they’re a people person
or a task person.

It’ll just irritate the applicant.

Anyone with half a brain
will answer that they’re a people person.
It is challenging to reach the higher levels
without being a people person.
That you’re asking that standard question
raises questions in the applicant’s mind
about what type of business you’re running.

As Lee Iacocca once said
“Anyone who doesn’t get along with people
doesn’t belong in this business,
because that’s all we’ve got around here.”

Don’t Lay Off Solo

When you’re laying off employees,
standard practice is
for another manager
(usually someone from human resources)
to sit in.
This person doesn’t say anything
(and if it is a human resources person,
probably better that they don’t).
She’s just THERE.

Why?

John Roberts, Former CEO of Roberts United Utilities,
states
in Hiring And Firing
(LES50NS from Harvard Business Press)

“If you’re at all concerned
about that person leaving that interview
with a different view of
what was said than the one that you have
and perhaps taking you
or the business to court,
taking further action,
then my strong advice
would be to have a reliable witness.”

In this litigation happy world,
don’t lay off solo.

3 Rules Of Product Development For Horizontal Industries

In Only The Paranoid Survive,
Andrew S. Grove
from Intel
outlines the 3 rules of product development
in horizontal industries
(horizontal industries are defined
by mass production and mass marketing)…

“One, don’t differentiate without a difference.
Don’t introduce improvements
whose only purpose is
to give you an advantage
over your competitor
without giving your customer
a substantial advantage.”

“Two, in this hype competitive horizontal world,
opportunity knocks
when a technology break or
other fundamental change comes your way.
Grab it.”
(First mover advantage)

“Three, price for what the market will bear,
price for volume,
then work like the devil on your costs
so you can make money at that price.”

Actually those 3 rules
apply to almost all product development.

Working With, Not Against

I take the same bus every day to work.
There is one woman
who, even though the bus is crowded,
intentionally takes up two seats.
She then ignores
the people eyeing it up.

Today there was a pregnant woman
eyeing the spare seat.
I tapped on the woman’s shoulder
and said
“Excuse me, she’d like that seat.”

The lady huffed and puffed
and called ME rude.
I looked at her,
smiled,
and said “Yep, I’m rude.”
(I can be)
“But I take this same bus with you
every day.”

She thought about it.

If I had said
“I’m not rude,”
she would have stopped listening immediately
but I didn’t
and I got my point across.

Sasha Dichter shares
how you can use that same concept at work.

Hartmut Esslinger And The Great Designer Test

Hartmut Esslinger, founder of frog design,
shares his test for
finding great designers

“I apply a simple test with young students:
smash a teapot into pieces and
then hand out the glue.
Those who rebuild the teapot won’t make it,
those who create phantasy animals and spaceships will.”

Looking at the world
in a different way
is rare and valuable.
If you have such an employee on your team,
engage her.
They’ll give you solutions
you’ll never dream of.

We, You, And I

“We’re going to wow them
on this project.
We’ll do the analysis.
Then we’ll present the findings.”

What kind of patronizing
togetherness crap
is this?

What my manager should have said
was
“We’re going to wow them
on this project.
You’ll do the analysis.
Then I’ll present the findings.”

Motivating yet honest.
We’re a team.
I have my role.
She has her role.

We, you, and I
should be used cautiously.

Present the I portion first
and listeners tune out,
thinking it has nothing
to do with them.

Use ‘we’ when you really mean
‘you’ or ‘I’
and you sound like
you’re talking down
to your listener.

‘You’, ‘You’, ‘You’
cries dictator.

For more insight,
see this post
at Confident Writing.

How Information Spreads

Left The Box
has a great post on how information spreads
and how we, marketers, can HELP
information spread.

We spread information
because it makes us feel important
and because it is easy to spread
(remember the first rule of marketing
– people are lazy).

What makes it easy to spread?

“The content should be easily read or viewed,
and have the ability to be quickly passed along.”

“The lighter the content,
the more likely it is to spread along.
Give consumers sound bites
or summaries
they can easily share
with their friends.”

That’s why those chain letter emails
are so popular.
One click
and they are forwarded
to hundreds.

Love To Love

There’s a reason why
I write romance.
I love love.
I use that emotion
to describe anything I enjoy.

Most great marketers I know
love love also.

Look at this post by
Chris Brogan.
He uses the word ‘love’
11 times
in a 263 word post.
Yes, the post is about the power of praise
but here he is,
a guy,
sprouting off about love.

Seth Godin, in a 220 word post
about the first ten supporters
uses love 3 times.

Why?

Because powerful people use powerful words
and love is one of the most powerful words
in existence.
If it scares you to use it,
question why.