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How Carmine Gallo Wins Fans

As a blogger, I get quite a few freebie books.
The usual process is…
a PR person emails me,
asks me to review the book.
I am sent the book with
a general cover letter from the PR agency.
I email them with a link to my book mention and
sometimes (not often) I get an email “thanks” back.

Not so with Carmine Gallo.

He emails me (he does, not his PR person)
says that he read on my blog
(and he names the blog site)
that I loved 10 Simple Secrets (I did).
Would I like a copy of his new book Fire Them Up!?
No mention of a review, a simple give.
I receive the book and
a pack of Fire Them Up! red hots are included.
Then I get an email.
Did I receive the book?
Was there any problems with the shipping?
Follow up.
And I suspect that when I send him links to the posts,
I will not only get a thank you back but
he’ll personalize that thanks.

THAT is how you win fans.

BTW… skimming through the book,
it has enough information in the first chapter
to put it on the keeper shelf.
A great gift idea for that business person on your holiday list.

Multiplying Mistakes

It is the classic email mistake.
Everyone I know has done it at least once.
I sent out a reply which was supposed to go
to a specific person and it went to the entire loop
(blasted Yahoo).

So what did I do?

I thought about sending out an email
asking recipients to ignore the previous one.
Not a good choice.
That would rouse curiosity,
prompting a higher percentage of readers.

So I ignored it
(there was nothing terribly embarrassing
in the email).

And I received zero comments on it.
Which gets me to thinking that
most people don’t read their emails.

I’m Sorry

A recent study showed that
higher income people apologize more often.

This surprised many people.
Sorry is often viewed as a weak word,
apologizing a weak action.

It is actually the opposite.
It is the transfer of responsibility
from the recipient of the apology
to the apologizer.
It is also the acknowledgement of power
(although misused).

An apology done right
strengthens the relationship,
rather than weakens it.

The Price Of Admission

Went to a live interview
with mega media mogul Ted Rogers
and he had some choice words to say
about entrepreneurship.

His feeling is that entrepreneurs are born,
not made because from the beginning
he was told by his Mom that
“if you’re going to be an entrepreneur,
you might go bust.”
He did it anyway.

Every business builder, he argues has
“to be willing to lost it all.”
He should know,
he almost lost everything
including the family home
3 times in his career.

That is, he says,
“the price of admission.”

Customers On The Project Team

Tom Peters wrote a post on Pier 1’s challenges
and the lack of women on the board.
He feels that they are out of touch
with their customer base.

I agree.

When I’m developing a product,
I do so with the target customer in mind,
so it makes sense that
when I’m building the product development team,
I do the same.

Does that mean that I kick off talented team members
because they don’t mirror the target customer?

No, of course not.
But I do ensure that I have, at least,
one person representing that group,
even if that is the only role they have.

Working For The Catalog

Watched a recent interview
with Mike Reno,
Lead Singer of Loverboy
and he addressed the Radiohead phenomenon,
artists giving away their songs for free.
About their CD’s,
Reno says that Loverboy
“almost uses these as promotional tools.”

Why?

They “have a catalog.”
The catalog, in music, is where the money is.

He does say that it is “harder to create a catalog now”
with all the choices available to listeners.

Guest Posting Zen

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits has signed
up 21,000 plus subscribers in 6 months.

How did he do it?

By writing good content and guest posting.
Yes, using only these two strategies.

How is this possible?
Guest posting is extremely powerful.
Not only is the blogger reaching new readers but,
by guest posting, the host gives the guest blogger
her seal of approval,
setting him up as an expert.

Using the guest strategy is not limited to online.
Print media is always on the look out for
solid guest quotes also.

Increasing Email Effectiveness

Although spam may irritate customers
in the long run,
in the short run, it is effective.
And it is inexpensive to use.

However, according to The Guerrilla Marketing Association,
personalizing the emails works even better.

“Personalized emails generated 42.7%
more click-throughs on average
to the web copy than non-personalized email.
Personalized emails generated 403%
more sales on average than
non-personalized emails.
Personalized emails generated 42.8%
fewer unsubscribes on average than
non-personalized emails.”

Take the extra step and
personalize.
This applies to traditional emails also.
Want action?
Add a name.

Wired And Earning

I went to lunch with a senior executive lately.
He checked his Blackberry before and after
but during the meal, he was completely there.
And I was flattered.

According to a Korn/Ferry poll of
2,300 executives from 75 countries,
80% of high earners world wide
are literally wired all the time.

When the number is that high,
it isn’t because they want to be,
it is because its a requirement
so work with it.

And don’t squander a tech free moment.

The Dove Evolution Ad

It cost $135,000 to create
the Dove Evolution ad,
a 74 second video spot tranforming
a normal woman into a model.
It was launched on YouTube,
picked up by talkshows, and
ended up granting Dove an estimated
$150 million in free advertising.

The secret behind the success?

Nancy Vonk,
half of the creative team at Ogilvy & Mather
responsible for the ad
(Janet Kestin being the other co-chief creative officer),
said
(in the September issue of Financial Post Business),
it was to “find people who give a shit
and let them tell others.”

You want a successful product.
Find people who give a shit.
If you can’t find them,
your product isn’t going to be a success.