February 2009 – client k

Should You Re-Schedule A Staff Meeting?

Unless it is an emergency,
No.

Why?
Because your staff considers
you changing a staff meeting
an indication of your priorities.

They will feel you value them less
than the event you bumped the meeting for.
The more our managers value us,
the harder we work for them.
That’s true at all levels.
So if you have to re-schedule,
you better ensure
the event is pretty DARN important.

What if you expect to get more information
a day later?
Then have two short meetings.
Use the first as an opportunity
to let your staff speak.

Tiger Woods On Nerves

I get nervous before every big event.
I can’t eat before job interviews
(even though I’ve done hundreds of them).
I pace before presentations.
I doodle during high stress meetings.

I do the job
but the nerves are always there.

Tiger Woods shares
“The day I’m not nervous is the day I quit.
To me, nerves are great.
That means you care.
I care about what I do and
I take great pride in what I do.”

Don’t ever let nerves stop you.

Does Your Blog Work On Internet Explorer?

Yesterday,
I guest blogged on a romance site.
A great site.
I couldn’t read what I posted though
because I was at work
and the major company I’m consulting at
uses Internet Explorer.
The blog doesn’t view on Internet Explorer,
only on FireFox.

I agree.
FireFox is much nicer for bloggers to use.
It is fast and pretty and…

But unfortunately,
most of the work world still uses the Internet Explorer default.
If your target market is the employed
(i.e. people with jobs),
then make sure your blog works on both.

Are You A Sprinter Or A Marathoner?

There are two roads
to the top of the corporate ladder:
you can succeed at a high risk project
and become an overnight success
or you can inch your way up,
rung by rung.

To be a successful novelist,
you can write a runaway bestseller
or you can build up your readership
book by book.

To be a top blogger,
you can get links in from the greats
or write 3,000 solid posts.

One way isn’t right for everyone.
However, one way
is normally the right way for
YOU.

I’m a gradual build person.
If I try to rush success,
I’m miserable during the process
and I usually fail.
Give me a project I can build on
over time
and I will succeed.

Work with who you are.

Twitter Is Forever

“I love Twitter,” my friend told me.
“It is like having a conversation
with hundreds of friends.”

Yeah, if every one
of those hundreds of friends
recorded that conversation.

Twitter is a powerful tool
but it is important to remember
that what we type on Twitter
exists online
FOREVER.

That foul mouthed spat last week
between Perez Hilton
and Lily Allen?
FOREVER.

That vent about your boss?
FOREVER
(and searchable).

So type with care.

Mountains Of Opportunity

As a new product developer,
I laugh when I hear folks moan
about the lack of opportunity today.
I know for every product I launch,
there are hundreds I can’t.
Why?
Because my resources only stretch so far.

That’s why,
although there is some sadness
when a concept test fails,
it isn’t the end of the world.
I have more products in the wings,
waiting for their chance.

Steve Yastrow reminds us
“All of us are sitting on
mountains of opportunity.”
“You have left many opportunities
unrealized for years.
It’s only natural; after all,
we can’t chase everything
that it’s possible to chase.”

So go out
and grab one of those opportunities.

The Perfect Sales Pitch

A financial advisor pitched me yesterday.

I’ve had a few financial advisors.
I know that they are never more interested in you
than when they’re trying to gain your business.
They try their best.
They give you more attention.
They pull out all the stops.

So when I received the full color
proposed sample portfolio
from this advisor
and saw my name spelled wrong
(it is Chin, not Chim),
I walked away with
no second thoughts.

I knew he would only get sloppier
once he landed me as a client.

In this competitive environment,
your pitch has to be perfect.
Double check your sales material.

And get your client’s name right.

Traditional Job Hunting

The company I’m assisting right now
is hiring.
They took out a classified ad
(as per HR policy)
and received thousands of resumes.

Not one was looked at.

Why?
Because the manager had already received resumes
from internal sources.
Since no one is going to recommend
a subpar candidate,
the first round of interviews
(the ‘are you a psycho?’ test)
was already done.

In this tight job market,
you’d have to be very, very lucky to find a job
through ‘traditional’ means.
Your best source is your contact list.

After that, try untraditional means.
Interview companies for blog posts
(and keep in contact with the person afterwards).
Apply for jobs that haven’t been posted.
Work on commission only.
Sell a service they don’t even know they need.

Price Increases During A Recession

All products are price sensitive.
(If you don’t think your product is,
try increasing that price by a million dollars
and see if you lose customers)

So before increasing pricing,
we weigh the margin gained
against the sales lost.
If the net amount is positive,
then it makes financial sense,
at least in the short term,
to increase pricing.

However,
be very, very careful
when increasing pricing during a recession.
Not only are customers more price sensitive
(meaning more sales will be lost)
but the price increase is also more visible.
The media and the consumer advocates
are looking out for ‘selfish’ companies.

If you can,
wait for a recovery
to increase prices.

Double Readership

There are two types of readers,
those that read deep
and those that skim.

Some copywriters will try to ‘trick’ the skimming reader
into reading ALL the words.
That’s difficult to do
and I doubt the reader will thank you for ‘the lesson.’

Yanik Silver gives a better suggestion.
Write your copy so readers can skim
and still learn the important pieces of information.

“So you want to make sure
they can get enough information
to make a buying decision
just by skimming through
the headline, subheads, and words
that are set off by bolding, italics, etc.

If they can do that, you’ve done your job.”

Read your copy twice.
First deeply
and then again reading just the highlighted words.
Does it send the same message?