A company was undergoing an office redesign.
The manager in charge set up four test design sites
and then had employees vote on it.
When he announced the decision,
he received a wave of complaints.
He asked me why this process didn’t work.
My reply was “it did work.”
A tough part of being a decision maker is
that not everyone will be happy with the decision,
not matter how its made.
You can minimize the negativity but
not eliminate it completely.
In the past year,
I’ve had contract gigs in
entertainment, restaurant, retail, service,
and, recently, a not for profit.
My recruiter buddy told me that
I’m “lucky” to be so flexible with industries.
That was not luck,
that was intentional.
In the short run,
industry hopping meant a decreased pay check.
In the long run, it has paid off.
Expanding industries,
as with expanding skill sets,
means more competition, more demand.
More demand translates to more dollars.
So think about your next job jump.
Can you hop to the next pond?
I’m currently taking two on-line classes.
Class A started off with a bang.
Day One, the prof offered a free critique
of any taglines or back copy.
I sent mine in,
happy that I had already recouped
the cost of the course with
the value of that critique.
After that, any other information
(and there was a lot of it)
was bonus.
Class B was more traditional,
a lecture with questions asked
at the end of the course.
I had to wait for my information and
I’m still not sure if I got my money’s worth.
If you have a choice between
giving a freebie
at the beginning
or
the end of a relationship,
choose the beginning.
Add value right away.
An author friend of mine may be brilliant at writing
but when it comes to public speaking,
she’s a mess.
She’s shy and can’t think on her feet
and…
She gives her first workshop next year.
Why?
Because she was told that could be a great way
to build her readership.
Doesn’t make sense… for her.
There are plenty of different ways
to market any product.
Why use a route she hates?
Why associate that negativity
with her feel good novels?
Mike Santoro has a great post on
when to use direct mail and when to use email.
Email, he points out, is permission based marketing.
We get so much email that
if we don’t know the sender,
we delete the message in seconds
without opening it.
With direct mail, however,
we have to touch the message
(even if it is to move it from mailbox to garbage can).
And there is less of it.
We’re more likely to read direct mail from strangers.
It is that busy time of year again and
in order to find spare minutes to spend with family,
many of us are pushing off less critical projects.
Marketing is NOT a less critical project.
Marketing helps with sales and
sales are priority one in a business.
So how to find time?
Colleen Wainwright, aka The Communicatrix,
posts about her top five
including my personal favorite, the postcard.
Postcards can be hand written quickly,
make a visual impact, and
cost less to mail.
Everyone has time to send at least one postcard a day.
Have you sent yours?
Readers of ClientK know that
I appreciate the executive summary.
Bare bones news and facts with no fluff.
That is one reason I like
ViralBlink’s blog concept
(warning site has nudity
and is very male targeted),
viral commercials and video clips
with no verbage,
no additional explanations.
Viral videos don’t need it.
They spread on their own.
BTW… once this site has built a bit of history,
it’ll be interesting to hear
if there are common components to
becoming “viral.”
On an episode of Sunset Tan ,
an employee was considering jumping
from the salon to a supplier.
The rather awkward approach was going well
until…
he badmouthed his current employer.
I saw the expression on the supplier’s face change
from interested to cautious in an instant.
Why?
Because she was thinking that
if this employee ever leaves the supplier,
he will talk negatively about them too.
No negatives.
If prospective employees want to know why you’re leaving,
make it about them and the positives they offer.
Continuous learning is a necessity today.
This can be accomplished in a number of ways
including books, magazines, live courses, seminars
and…
online courses.
This month, I’m taking two online courses
in two very different fields.
Not only do online courses have a lower tuition fee
than regular courses but
they can be completed on my own timing and
where-ever I happen to be.
Monday, I can complete my lesson
at 8pm EST in NYC.
Thursday, it can be done at noon in Vegas.
Or I could save it for the weekend.
Wonderful for the busy business woman.
Tony Blair once said
“The art of leadership is saying no, not yes.
It is very easy to say yes.”
Once you get a little bit of success,
the requests will come.
Sometimes the requests are one sided,
with no benefit to you or your company.
These requests are easier to say no to.
The more difficult ones contain opportunities,
new projects, new directions, new revenue streams.
But some of those will also have to be turned away
(or redirected to someone else) .
A company or person moving in all different directions
goes no where.
Saying no is a success requirement.