A Deeper Listening

The average person listens
at a very shallow level.
Want to be above average?
Listen deeply.

In the midst of a very busy day
yesterday,
I received a call from a 9 year old loved one.
I set everything aside
and concentrated 100% on her conversation.

She talked about seemingly
superficial things.
She told me about a boy Ely
and about how he was bad.
He pushed her into her locker.
He called her and other kids names.
He was mean to the teacher.

I asked her why she thought he did things like that.
Was he mad or sad or scared
or simply a bad boy?
She told me that no,
he wasn’t a bad boy,
that he was sad
and
sometimes when you’re sad,
you do bad things.
We talked about other ways
he could deal with his sadness.

Of course,
this discussion wasn’t about Ely.
It was about my loved one.
She is nine years old
and didn’t address her sadness directly.

Do you think your much older customers
will address their own issues openly?
If you want to solve problems,
you have to listen deeply.

The 50/30/20 rule

We all know the 80/20 rule
(80% of effects comes from 20% of causes)
but do you know the 50/30/20 rule?

Cindy Ventrice,
author of
Make Their Day! Employee Recognition that Works
outlines the 50/30/20 rule.
50% of employee recognition
should come directly from the manager,
30% from peers,
and 20% from the business.

What does this mean?
Employee recognition can not be outsourced.
It can’t be a human resources function.
It has to be a manager function.

The good news is…
it doesn’t have to be expensive.
57% of the most meaningful recognition
is absolutely free.
80% cost under $20.

So no using lack of a budget
for lack of employee recognition.

Outside Your Comfort Zone

I went to a literary conference on Saturday.
I don’t normally go to these.
I stick to romance specific events.

At one workshop,
I didn’t understand
a third of the words
coming out of the speaker’s mouth.
I didn’t get his references
to other writers
(writers not found on any best sellers list).

This was great.
Not only because I learned a few things
but because it humbled me.
I didn’t know ‘everything.’
I knew nothing.

Accepting that you know nothing
is very powerful.
It forces you to ask questions,
to learn,
to fill the empty space.

Do something today
completely out of your comfort zone.
Watch a tv show in another language.
Eat at a restaurant
where you don’t recognize a single dish.
Visit an online forum
in an area outside your expertise.

Published
Categorized as Marketing

Mothers On MySpace

Want to reach mothers
(the gatekeepers for kids)?
Head to MySpace.

In a presentation by Mitch Joel
yesterday,
he shared
that 40% of all mothers
in the U.S.
are on MySpace.
That is ALL mothers
(not simply online mothers).

If mothers (or kids via mothers)
is your target market,
why aren’t you there?

Published
Categorized as Marketing

Nurturing Great Followers

Behind every great leader
are great followers.
A great leader wouldn’t be
a great leader
without them.

Great followers enjoy being great followers.
They do what leaders often refer to
as ‘grunt work’,
work that is necessary,
often essential,
but not exciting.
They do this work well
and happily.
They also protect the leader.

Why?
Because the leader protects them.
When great leaders are promoted,
they ensure their great followers benefit also.
(A good thing to remember
when there’s a change in leadership.)
Because great followers are rare,
great leaders often take them with them
where-ever they go.
Great leaders will take the blame
for their followers’ rare mistakes.

You will never be a great leader
without nurturing a group of great followers.
When you find one,
take care of him or her.

Last Minute Conference Seats

I heard about an eBook conference yesterday.
The conference is for this weekend,
registration has been sold out
for at least a month.

Wanting to attend,
I emailed and asked.
No problem.
A space opened up.
I’m now registered.

There are ALWAYS cancellations.
Airlines know this.
That’s why they overbook flights.

Never use full as an excuse.

Elizabeth Gilbert On Creativity

Elizabeth Gilbert,
author of Eat, Pray, Love,
talked about creativity
on TED

My favorite part of her speech?
When she says
that her job is
to sit down
and write.
Genius and brilliance
may or may not show up.
If it doesn’t
“I’m going to keep writing anyway
because that’s my job.
And I would please
like the record to reflect
today
that I showed up
for my part of the job.”

For the past two weeks,
genius has not shown up
while I was writing.
I wrote anyway.
Yesterday, it appeared.
Suddenly my current story ‘works.’

Yes, there will be massive rewrites
but I doubt genius would have shown up
without all that hard work.

Whatever your job is,
show up for it,
body, mind, and soul.

Make Multiples Easy

Every month on
http://businessromance.com/
I give away free eBooks.
Often I give away multiple copies
of the same eBook.

With my May contest,
I gave away 15 copies
of the same book.

I wanted to order them directly
from the publisher.
I didn’t.
Why?
Because I’d have to click buy 15 times.
Instead I bought
(at the same price)
from a reseller
because I could simply adjust the quantity.

But not any reseller.
I bought from a reseller
that allowed me to download only once
and resend copies of that same download.

If you want multiple sales,
make multiple sales easy for customers.

To test this,
try buying 100 of your product.
It should be as easy as buying 1.

Published
Categorized as Sales

Getting Paid

I bought a mattress yesterday
from an HVAC installer.

How did an HVAC installer
become a mattress salesman?

He installed an HVAC unit in a hotel.
That hotel was then sold.
The former owner was declaring bankruptcy.
Before that happened,
the HVAC installer
was given a choice.
He could receive nothing
(as he was way down the list of creditors)
or he could take 30 brand new mattress sets
as payment.
He took the mattress sets.

If you think
your customers will never pay,
you may wish
to work out a deal
for payment in kind.

Something is always better than nothing.

Getting Your Email Marketing Read

When I first set up my email for
http://businessromance.com/
I made a classic junior jammer mistake.
I used info@
Then I tested the address
by mailing from it
to a Yahoo! account.
The test failed.
Yahoo! automatically sends emails
from info@ accounts to trash.

I then set up another account
using kimber@
No problems.

At Forbes.com,
Gene Marks, owner of the Marks Group,
shares their top tips on getting emails read.
“First, avoid using generic addresses
like sales@ or info@ in the “from” line;
second, keep the “from” name consistent
and recognizable in all e-mails;
third, be clear and specific
as to what’s being offered in the subject line”

Published
Categorized as Marketing