seth godin – Page 4

Maintaining Your Tools

Every few years,
I hire a professional
to look at all my websites.

She scans the sites
for issues,
tightens the security,
updates things
that need updating.

This professional ensures
I’m working with the best sites
possible for me.
This optimizes my efforts.

“Who maintains your tools?

Perhaps it’s a computer
with all the software
that goes with it.
Do you have a world-class pro,
someone who is up-to-date,
skilled, innovative
and empathic
making sure that they’re working well?
Or are you doing it yourself,
muddling through?

If we have mediocre tools,
why should we expect great work?”

Every so often,
consider hiring a professional
to optimize your tools.

Selling Via Customer Service

I sell books
when I receive an email comment or complaint
about something
regarding my books.

That shouldn’t surprise you.

As Seth Godin
shares
“…the customer who calls you
or shows up at the adjustments window
is fully enrolled.
Unlike just about
every other moment
you’ve had with them,
in this moment,
they are paying attention,
leaning into the situation
and on high alert.”

We’re also having a direct conversation.
The reader (customer) isn’t talking
with Amazon
or another bookseller.
She is talking to me.

I can fix her problem,
listen to her
AND
sneak in a few sentences
about an upcoming book (product) release.

I can direct her
to a book of mine
she might like MORE.

I can give her a free copy
of a first book in a long series.

The options are almost limitless.

This isn’t the hard sell.
This is having a discussion.

Are you selling products/services
when customers contact you
about issues?

Predicting The Future

When I was young,
I would read my horoscope
every day.
And every day,
it would usually come true.

Because horoscopes contain
universal truths
and general predictions.
We then look for results
that will prove the predictions to be true.

“Don’t believe everything you hear today.”
You shouldn’t believe everything you hear
on ANY day.

“You will have good luck today.”
Every day we’re alive
is a fortunate day.

As Seth Godin
shares

“Voices that purport
to know the future
–whether they are psychics, astrologers,
family or the noise in our head–
are pretty effective
when it’s vague enough,
but terrible
when it comes to specifics.
That’s because when it’s vague,
we complete the story on our own,
creating our own fact patterns
after things happen.”

Scientists knew, for example, there would be
another pandemic.
They were certain about that vague prediction.

They didn’t know it would happen
in 2019.
They couldn’t predict
that specific detail.

Remember that when listening to
predictions for that future.
The more specific the prediction is,
the less likely it is
to come true.

Mass Asking For Favors

I received a gazillion messages a day
from writers
asking me to help promote
their books.

If they don’t mention something
that is specific to me,
if the message is generic,
I ignore it.
And I’m more likely to ignore
their next message.

Seth Godin
shares

“If you ask 100 people
for a favor
to “get the word out,”
then of course
you don’t care so much
if 80 or 90 people decline.
The problem is that
you’ve just hurt the relationship
you had with these people
(as thin as it was)
as well as made it more difficult
for the next person,
the one who actually
put some effort and care
into making a connection.”

There IS a downside
to mass requesting favors.
Think before you do this.

Has Something Like This Been Done In The Past?

One of my first tasks
when crafting a new project
is to investigate
if anything like it
has ever been done
before.

If it or something similar
has been tackled
in the past
by someone
or some entity,
it usually becomes
significantly easier
for us to do,
even if it has been done
in a different industry.

Doing groundbreaking,
never been done
work
takes trial and error
and that requires significantly
more time and resources.

As Seth Godin
shares

“…if you’ve signed up
for wayfinding,
forgive yourself
if it takes a little
(or a lot)
longer.
Because if we knew
the right answer,
we would have found it already.
That’s the hard part.”

Search for similar situations
before inventing a solution
from scratch.
It will save you
time and effort.

Just Because You Don’t Use That Feature

A blogger I admire
posted that the
“add a minute” button
on microwaves
was useless
because no one needs
to add that much time.

That is the MOST used button
in our household.

We do use it to
add a minute
but we also use it
to input the minutes.

You are likely not
your target customer.
You are definitely not
EVERY customer.

Consult with your customers
before taking away features
(or somehow track
how often they are used
by EVERYONE).

You’ll likely be surprised
how your product
is being used.

The Trap Of Wanting More

One of the reasons
I like to write down my goals
is because
I have a tendency to move them.

If my goal is to sell 5 books a day
and I do that,
I immediately increase my goal
to sell 10 books a day.

This SEEMS like a good thing to do
except…

1) I never stop to celebrate
the achievement of my original goal.
And because I don’t celebrate it,
I often forget I’ve achieved it.
I feel like I never accomplish anything.

And

2) I don’t stop and ask myself
if I WANT to sell more than
5 books a day.
Does selling 10 books a day
get me closer
to my greater goals?

More merely for the sake
of more
isn’t productive.
It might be anti-productive.

Our time and other resources
are limited.
They could be used elsewhere.

Seth Godin
shares
“the infinity of more
can become
a gaping hole.

Instead of finding solace
and a foundation for better work,
the bottomless pit of
just a little more
quickly ceases to be fuel
and becomes a burden instead.”

Write down your goals.
Then don’t automatically expand
them
once you’ve achieved them.
Think about it
first.

Failure In New Business Development

New business development
consists of trial and error.
Very few people
develop the best product or service
for their target market
the first time.

We develop a product.
We test it.
It fails.
We revise the product.
We test it.
It fails a little less.

We repeat the process
again and again
until we get it right.

Seth Godin
shares

“Failure is a way
of discovering
one more thing
that customers didn’t want,
and perhaps,
learning a bit about
what they might want.
By iterating
without tears or fears,
organizations are able
to discover things
about their future customers.”

Expect the first few tries
at new business development
to fail.

Don’t become emotionally attached
to those products/services
and
don’t become discouraged.
It is part of the process.
Failure is supposed to occur.

There’s Always A Downside

There’s always a downside
to every decision,
even the smallest ones.

If I have toast for breakfast,
for example,
I have one less slice of bread
for future sandwiches.

We can try to decrease
the downside
(in this case,
perhaps buying more bread)
but we will never eliminate it.

Seth Godin
shares

“We don’t try something
simply because
there’s no downside.
Instead,
we intelligently choose projects
where the downside is understood
and the work is worth doing.”

Know the downsides of your decisions.
Try to minimize them,
prepare for them.
Then take action.

There are no risk-free choices.